Count Your Dead
by Bloodyredshade
Summary: Sometimes all it takes is a different decision. What if Carol and Ed Peletier had a son before Sophia? Who would he be? What would he do? How would his actions change a tiny corner of the world? Original Character warning. Author's Note: This is a rebirth of another story of mine.
1. Count Your Dead

Count Your Dead

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Author's Note: So this is a rebirth of my old story of **Tears in the Veil: Wandering with the Dead.** Instead of making it a crossover I just decided to go with an OC character in the Walking Dead. If you've read the story this was based on you will find some similarities so don't be surprised about it.

"Talking"

 _Thoughts_

* * *

 _Some say that there are an infinite amount of universes. That for every decision, for every crossroad we find ourselves upon, there exists another world where one thing went one way or another. Or it could all be bullshit. Either way it wouldn't stop this fucking fist from punching me square in the nose._

I felt two knuckles hit my nose and felt it burst open like an egg. I could have handled more, always could, but I chose to fall down. I felt a foot kick me in the ribs once, then twice, and then a third before the old man got tired.

I heard him huffing and puffing as he walked toward his lazy boy and sat down. I laid there pretending to be unconscious. The beatings were always worse when my "mom" wasn't around. I waited for him to pass out drunk but to my surprise he stood up.

"Fucking son of a bitch." I heard him murmur.

I opened my good eye and watched him go down the hall; however, instead of going to his room he stopped in front of my sister's room. I watched as he licked his lips nervously before opening the door. Whatever restraint he had, I watched as it snapped as he stepped into her room with intent.

"Bastard." I growled out as I pushed my beaten body onto my feet.

I reached for the fire iron and pulled it from its holder near the fire place. I shook my head to clear my double vision before walking unsteadily toward my sister's room.

"Daddy? What are you doing?" I heard my sister ask frightened.

"Shush. Don't worry." I heard him whisper.

I stepped cautiously over the wooden floors as to not make a sound. I almost abandoned all caution as his pants dropped but I was close enough to not have to worry about him touching her. Without making a sound I swung the fire iron right into my father's knee. He squealed in agony as his leg snapped and fell to his left side and onto his chest. Without missing a beat I slammed the body of the fire iron into his neck where his C-7 and C-8 vertebra was and was satisfied as his pathetic writhing stopped.

 _I was always smarter than what people thought. Irony, I wanted to be a doctor. To heal and help people, but here I am using my knowledge to break a man down._

"Isaac?" My sister whispered in fright but I ignored her.

"Did you hear that father? That was the sound of your spine breaking. Right now you should feel partial if not full paralysis of your entire body. You're a quadriplegic now. " I said vindictively as I dropped the fire iron of the floor as he gasped weakly trying to catch his breath.

"There's a whole list of health problems that come with that. The paralysis you already know. The next is that you'll have weaken breathing which isn't a good thing when you're lying on your chest. Let me help you with that." I said as I pushed his limp body on his back.

"You…little e…fucker…" My father managed to get out in between shallow breaths.

"Yeah I know." I said as I stood up and fetched the belt from his discarded pants.

"We should have had you aborted." My father said as he caught his breath.

"Probably. Lord knows it would have been a slightly different night for you if you had." I acknowledged as I walked over to him with belt in hand.

"Sophia look away and cover your ears. You've already seen too much tonight. You don't have to see what happens next." I ordered and I could hear her whimpering.

"But…Isaac…" She cried out.

"But nothing. Put your head under the blanket and cover your ears. NOW!" I yelled at her and I was happy to see she followed my orders.

"Do it you little shit. I fucking dare you." My father whispered out with what little breath he had.

"I will, don't worry about that." I said as I wrapped the belt around his neck.

I tightened the belt to as far as it would go and took satisfaction in his chocked gasps. I used the belt as a rope and with effort dragged him toward the door.

"You know I would like to say it's been a pleasure but it really hasn't Ed. I mean you were kind of an asshole." I grunted out as I lifted the belt up and shut the door on it so that Ed was dangling from the door in a seated position.

"You couldn't even show your boy how to punch. A good punch is like this." I threw a punch and despite my small and malnourished body I pivoted my hips and lashed out with my right fist straight into Ed's ribs and heard a soft crack.

"The energy comes from the hips you see, but that's okay. You're just a dumb no good son of a bitch that didn't have the brains to go to college nor the athletic ability to get that scholarship you were begging for." I smiled as I watched Ed slowly succumb to the lack of oxygen.

"You couldn't have possibly thought you would have lived longer than I needed you. Admittedly I was going to kill you after I got out of high school but you've outlived your usefulness the moment you stepped into her room with that look on your face." I growled out as I kicked his chest.

"Stupid fucking trash." I whispered as his eyes finally closed and he stopped moving.

I waited for another two minutes before opening the door and letting him fall to the ground. I quickly wrapped the belt around my hand and pulled the useless pile of meat along the floor. It was a good thing he still had his shirt on or it would have been impossible. I pulled him into the hallway and shut Sophia's door.

"Isaac?" I heard my mother whisper in terror.

"I had to. He was going after Sophia." I whispered and watched as she scrambled toward the phone and began calling 911.

"Look at all the trouble you're causing Ed." I said as I looked down at his body one last time.

*****Two Days Later*****

The door opened and a man dressed in a suit with the swagger of someone important walked into the room and sat down across from my lawyer and I. He took a sip from his coffee and finally placed a folder on the desk.

"Ms. Beacher." The man nodded respectfully and the lawyer next to me nodded in acknowledgement.

"Detective." Ms. Beacher said shortly.

"Alright. Before we begin do you need anything else in your…present state?" The detective asked as he began gesturing to my treated wounds and bruises that had been taken care of in the hospital.

"I'm fine Detective. The pain killers help to dull the pain." I said as the Detective nodded, cleared his throat, and then placed a recorder on the table and pushed play.

"This is Detective Christian Camton following up on case number. 356421. The interviewee is the victim's son, Isaac Peletier." The Detective paused as the young boy of ten raised his hand.

"Yes Isaac?" Detective Camton asked.

"Please sir. I'd prefer Isaac Crane. After my mother's maiden name." I explained before calmly lowering my hand back onto the cold metal table.

"Ah. Why would you like to go under your mother's maiden name?" Detective Camton asked as he leaned back in his chair.

"I prefer it sir." I said simply.

"Let's keep the questions to the case Detective." Ms. Beacher insisted.

"Well, you understand why we've brought you in." Detective Camton asked as he took out a note pad.

"Yes. I've been brought in on suspicion of killing my father Ed Peletier." I said calmly and I could almost feel my lawyer stiffen as if to catch me in case I slipped up and incriminated myself.

"Correct. All the forensics put the murder weapon in your hand, place you at the scene and we have your mother on record as having found you dragging the body out of your sister's room." Detective Camton read off his note pad before looking up at me.

"It seems you have all the pieces Detective Camton." I said as I drummed my fingers against the table slowly.

"Yes. Without a doubt we can link you to the murder. Unless you would like to plead not guilty?" The detective asked looking toward Ms. Beacher.

"Against my advice and better judgement, my client…has expressed…a desire to plead guilty." Ms. Beacher said through clenched teeth.

"Really? Usually I don't ask this but why?" Detective Camton looked startled at the news and looked toward me.

"We live in a civilized society. Actions have consequences. I broke Ed Peletier's leg with a Fire Iron and then broke his spine so he couldn't move his body. Then I wrapped his belt around his neck and suffocated him till he died." I explained in order.

"Where did the broken ribs come from?" Detecive Camton asked.

"I may have kicked him a few times." I admitted with a grin.

"I see…" Detective Camton trailed off as he looked down at his notepad and scribbled something in it.

"Detective, may I ask a question?" I asked as the Detective looked up at me.

"Wouldn't you have done the same? If it had been you getting beaten half to death and then having your father walk into your sister's room afterward. You've seen his body. He had his pants off for a reason." I alluded and I saw his face tighten slightly.

"I would have called 911 and let the proper authorities handle it." The detective said robotically.

"In the time it would have taken for the police to arrive he would have raped her. She's only four. I protected my family." I said grimly and I felt my fist tighten and watched as the Detective struggled with what he wanted to say and what his job told him to say.

"In light of the circumstances that were uncovered during our investigations we are offering a deal which you can still choose to accept." Detective Camton stated.

"What's the deal?" Ms. Beacher asked curiously.

"In return for a full written confession and a guilty plea we offer this, eight years in a juvenile detention center with mandatory counselling sessions one day every week. If everything goes well and perhaps on good behavior you will be released when you turn eighteen. If you retract your statement or your confession, all deals will be thrown off the table." Detective Camton finished.

"I want it in writing. Then we will give you everything you need." Ms. Beacher said.

"Fair enough." Detective Camton agreed and handed us the folder he had brought in.

*****Eight Years Later*****

I splashed cold water on my face before looking at the mirror. I had changed in the last eight years. The baby fat was replaced with lean cheeks and sharp features. My hair was cut tightly against my scalp in a flat top and I had a few nicks and scars along my face. My eyes though, my eyes stayed the same. I had grown to an average height and was very strong for my size however it was my stamina that was one of the key aspects of my physique. I could run anyone into the ground given enough time.

"You worried man?" Deacon asked from his corner of the cell.

"No. Not really. The world doesn't change simply because you take the bars off the doors." I said absentmindedly as I turned toward my bunk and began filling my bag with drawings I had made over the years.

"Same old Isaac. Always the philosopher." Deacon smiled and extended his hand toward me.

"Deacon, always the man with big dreams." I joked as I shook his hand.

"Hey! Those dreams are what's going to pay for a house. I'll even be so gracious to let you crash on the couch like the bum you are." Deacon grinned.

"Thanks for the offer." I said simply and we stood like that for a while.

"This place is going to feel different without you buddy." Deacon said sadly as he pulled his hand to his side.

"Yeah, well, it'll probably give the guys more incentive to stay out of trouble. You know how to find me once you're sprung." I said as I turned to face the door.

"Yeah." Deacon said as he sat down.

Suddenly there was a knocking on the door and a guard opened a tiny metal slot.

"Isaac, it's time." The familiar voice of Steve Flonder called out.

"Yes sir." I said respectfully as I put my hands through the slot and felt the feeling of cold steel against my wrists.

I took a step back and the door swung open.

"Let's go Mr. Crane." Steve said with his usual smile.

Without a word I nodded before picking up my ruck and stepped out of my cell. The walls that had held me for eight years were a distant memory and I had no desire to be held there for any longer than I had to. As we walked down the hall I saw boys ranging from thirteen to seventeen looking through the tiny shatter proof windows in their doors watching me go.

"It's sad to see you leave." Steve said.

"Thank you officer Flonder. I hope the boys will remain reasonably calm after I leave." I said politely.

"One can only hope." Steve chuckled as we finally arrived at the out processing center.

I went through the usual regulations and answered every question. At the end of it I was issued a plain white shirt, jeans which fit like a glove but at least I could wear it and a pair of cheap shoes. The last thing I was handed was a wad of ones and five dollar bills. A hundred dollars in total, all that I had saved before I killed Ed.

With a simple nod Steve opened the double doors that led to the exit for the Juvenile center. With purpose I followed him out and walked the path that I had always seen but never walked myself. Each crunch of the gravel felt so liberating and finally I reached the metal doors, the only things barring me from freedom. Steve unlocked the doors and pushed them open to reveal a parking lot.

"There it is Isaac." Steve stepped to the side and I cautiously stepped outside and onto the side walk, it was at this moment the radio on Steve's shoulder beeped.

"There's a fight in cell 191! All officers to cell block C! NOW!" The last part was screamed out.

"So much for keeping calm after you leave." Steve shrugged before closing the doors and locking it.

"Yeah…I guess so." I shook my head and turned to the parking lot. The only cars were the employees.

"Guess I should have known better than to expect anyone." I whispered to myself as I finish scanning the lot.

I looked at my former home, Rockdale Juvenile Corrections, for the last time before turning away. Without any fanfare I began walking. The generic shoes on my feet were a little tight but I could deal with it. I've dealt with a lot worse. I went deep into that hollow space in my head. The place where nothing matter, where subjects, memories, and feelings floated through my mind like leaves on a river. It was my special place when Ed was beating me. Suddenly I stopped and was standing in front of a fast food place somewhere in the city. The sun was just dipping below the horizon and I felt hunger rumble through my belly. I touched the wad of money in my pocket and then walked in.

The moment I stepped through the door the smell of pizza and burgers hit me in the face and the assault was accompanied by the latest song of whatever female pop star was in at the time. Teenagers from fourteen to eighteen were scattered along the Diner. Their loud voices and laughs were completely different from the hushed tones, and stifled chuckles of Rockdale's meal hall. This must have been where the kids hung out after school or…

I looked at the digital clock and realized that it was Friday. Date night. Before I could walk out the door however, a waitress approached me. She was a pretty thing. Brown hair, fresh make up, a smart looking outfit and clearly new as she stumbled slightly on a hidden obstacle. She smiled shyly as she recovered before standing straight up. I looked at her chest and saw her name was written neatly on a cheap plastic name tag.

"You can take a seat at any empty table. We'll be with you as soon as we can." She said politely.

"Thank you Heather." I said automatically and found a small table that was partially isolated and didn't seem to have many people occupying it.

Within a few moments Heather once more appeared at my side and handed me a menu.

"Sorry about the wait." Heather said as she smiled brightly.

"It's not a problem. Thank you." I quickly scanned the front of the menu and pointed to the bowl of hot chili.

"Chili man?" Heather asked as she wrote the order down in her little notebook.

"Whenever I get the chance." I smiled at her and she nodded happily before going toward the kitchen.

By now I began noticing a few of the teenagers looking at me. They whispered and pointed none too subtly at my ruck sack. I had forgotten that stenciled on the side was the word Rockdale J.D. Too late to hide it now so I just sat quietly for a few minutes before Heather came back with my chili.

"Here you go." Heather proclaimed as she placed the steaming bowl of chili in front of me.

"Oh! I'm sorry. I totally forgot to ask if you wanted a drink." Heather exclaimed as her cheeks slightly became flushed in embarrassment.

"Water please." I asked and she nodded before quickly hurrying to get a cup of water for me.

I was barely into a spoonful into my chili when I noticed a shadow loom over me. I paused and looked up to see Hitler's wet dream looming down at me.

 _Six foot even, 240 pounds of pure muscle, and blonde hair and blue eyes. Could be trouble._

"Yes?" I asked as I looked back at my chili and took another spoonful before blowing on it.

"You from Rockdale Juvenile Detention Center?" The teen asked with a slight edge in his voice.

"Yeah. Just got released this morning." I answered as if we were talking about the weather.

"You're done. Pay and get the hell out of here." He grounded out.

"I'm still eating." I said as I ate the spoonful of chili.

With a causally flick of his wrist he tipped the bowl over, spilling the chili all over the table.

"REX!" The indignant tone of Heather screamed out as she approached with my glass of water.

"What do you think you're doing?!" She continued.

"Nothing. Just telling, the nobody, to get the hell out. Nobody wants him here." The newly named Rex said calmly.

"That was my chili." I said as I clenched the spoon harder.

"Oh and is this your water?" Rex asked as he snatched it from Heather's hand and held it threateningly over my head.

"Don't." I warned as he smirked.

Without a care he dumped the water over my head and I counted the ice cubes that bounced off my head. After the cup was empty Rex set it down with a boisterous thump and looked down with a grin that nearly screamed "What are you going to do?" With a sigh I grabbed my ruck and made to get up only to have Rex roughly shove me back down.

"Rex! That's enough!" Heather screamed.

"Listen to her Rex." I said calmly before attempting to stand back up before feeling Rex clamp a hand on my shoulder.

"What are you going to do about it?" Rex asked before trying to shove me.

I simply turned to the side and without my expected resistance Rex simply fell forward and onto the chili covered table. The resulting crash nearly broke the table into splinters and sent the lone chair flying toward the back wall. The place was deadly quiet, whether that was before Rex fell onto the table or not I had no idea. It didn't matter as Rex stood up and faced me with chili over his shirt. His face was flushed and I see the fury in his eyes.

"Rex…stop. Stop it right now." Heather warned as she raised a hand.

With a roar Rex threw a punch but I had been in brawls before. I pushed Heather to the side as I dodged a stray punch from Rex. I simply stepped backward each time Rex threw his punches. He was angry and his fighting showed it. Anyone in our way quickly removed themselves and I was glad I didn't have anyone to trip over. After what must of have been his fiftieth punch he paused panting.

"It's a lot harder than you would think huh?" I asked as I tucked my hands in my pockets.

"Fuck…you." He said through gasps.

"Alright. Well I'm bored." I said as I moved past him and dodge his weak attempt to grab me.

I pulled out a five dollar bill and handed it to Heather as I grabbed my ruck that sat sadly on its side when Rex charged at me. She numbly accepted it and I turned to see two cops, one a nervous stick of a rookie and the other a bloated jaded cop.

"Step away from the girl now and drop your bag!" The jaded cop yelled as his hand unsnapped the band on his holster.

"I did nothing wrong officer." I said calmly as I did as I was instructed.

"Raise your hands!" The fat cop commanded and once more I did as he asked.

Suddenly the familiar sound of a gunshot tore through the scene and I felt pain blossom from my arm. I looked numbly toward the left side of my body and saw a thin bead of blood begin to trail down. I turned to the cops who were completely as stunned as I was. I looked up and saw Rex holding the newly stolen police pistol. I heard a pained whimper and I turned around shocked to see Heather looking shocked at a red circle on her chest which bloomed as she fell to the ground. I was too busy looking at Heather to watch as Rex was tackled by the heavy set police officer. I felt the cold steel on wrist before I knew what was happening.

 _How did it come to this?_

I looked at Rex who sat next to me in the back of a squad car. He seemed intent on looking at his hands and I found myself scoffing.

 _What a pussy._

I looked back at the fast food joint, Fat Eddy's I read on a sign, and looked away as a pair of EMT's ran into the building. Nobody else was around as the cops had cleared the scene.

"She's dead you know." I told to the back of their skulls as they stopped in front of the two officers in Fat Eddy's.

"Shut up." Rex mumbled.

"Wasn't talking to you." I retorted as suddenly the EMT's and the cops looked toward where the body presumably lied.

I watched as the rookie mouthed something before pulling his gun.

 _Interesting_

I watched with my head cocked to the side as the pale face of Heather appeared from below my eye line. She stood shakenly to her feet and looked dumbly at the officers. The two officers raised their pistols and both hesitated as Heather took a shaky step toward them, and then another as she raised her hands toward them. Both officers together fired their pistols and Heather rocked and shook with each bullet but nothing phased her as she grabbed the fat officer and bit his nose off. The EMT's and the rookie both bolted out the door shortly after. None of them had the decency to open the door to the cop car for me.

"What's happening?" Rex asked as he finally noticed the absence of the cops.

"Shut up and hold still." I ordered as I placed my back against his shoulder and kicked the window as strong as I could and after the third kick the shattered proof glass popped out.

I crawled out of the window as well as I could and fell onto the pavement with a thud. I got to my feet fairly quickly and found an amusing sight as Rex tried to replicate my feat only to be stuck in the car because of his broad shoulders. I scoffed as I walked toward the Fat Eddy's doorway.

"Hey! Where are you going!?" Rex yelled out.

"I don't have the keys, the other police officer ran away when Heather attacked the fat one." I said as I put a shoulder against the door once more annoyed that my hands were cuffed behind my back.

"Well, you better unlock my cuffs too when you come back out." Rex yelled out.

 _I'll kill you before that happens._

I pushed the door open and I heard something snap and a symphony of sounds that would make anime porn developers blush. I cautiously looked down the aisle and saw Heather elbows deep into the fat policeman's stomach. The keys jingled next to him on the floor with each tug from Heather. I stepped closer and watched as Heather lifted the fat cop's stomach and bit deeply into the pink flesh. Instead of feeling the usual feelings, panic, fear, or nausea I was fascinated.

"Heather." I called out and watched as she turned her bloody face toward me.

She completely ignored the cop as she stood up revealing her engorged stomach which had nearly tripled in sized from her snack. With a snarl she walked in that shambling fashion I had seen before. Without warning I turned to my side, raised my knee and lashed out with my foot. I landed a hard blow against her chest and watched as she flew back and fell into the gore of the police officers stomach. That blow had taken down men comparable to Rex in Juvie. Still I watched impressed as she stood up as if nothing had happened. She came closer and I aimed higher and kicked her in the head. Without any resistance Heather's head was slammed onto the edge of a table before slumping to the ground. I waited for a second but the unending energy was gone from her body as blood leaked slowly from her skull.

"That's a clue." I muttered and paused as I heard the familiar clinking sound of keys hitting the floor.

I looked away from Heather to see the fat police officer wave his arm in futility as he tried to reach for me. The man's eyes were dead and he snarled in a similar fashion as Heather. With a crack I watched as the officer broke his own spine with his energetic movement and tried crawling toward me. I walked to the officer and stomped heavily onto the back of the man's skull. Immediately the officer stopped moving.

 _So that's what makes you tick. Alright._

I leaned down and felt for the keys with my hands and after a few seconds I found it. With a few deft movements I managed to unlock my handcuffs and sighed happily. I grabbed the cop's pistol and any magazines on his belt which had remained with his lower body.

 _Time to bounce before the scene becomes worse. What do I know? Hits to the skull kill these things. What I don't know. How did Heather become a monster without being bitten and is everyone else infected?_

I looked at the pair on the ground before pocketing the handcuff keys and picking up my ruck sack which laid where it had fallen once more after the cops arrested me. I grabbed the police officer's belt and quickly fastened it around my waist. It was a dozen sizes too big for me but it was better than nothing. I quickly holstered the pistol and reached down the officer's right leg. I smiled as my assumption was correct as I lifted up the officer's pants leg and unfastened a hidden .32 from his ankle. I smiled at the dead officer.

"I never would have expected you to be this prepared." I said as I stood up and walked out of Fat Eddy's.

"Hey! Get me out of here!" Rex yelled at me.

"Yeah sure. Come to the window and stick your hands out." I ordered as Rex turned around and placed his hands outside the window.

I pulled out the multitool that had been on the cop's belt and flicked open the blade.

"Let me out man! Hurry up before more cops come!" Rex said eagerly.

"Okay." I looked up and down the streets and saw no one.

I pushed Rex's head down and slid the sharp blade along his throat. I watched as Rex wiggled around but because he reflexively tried to raise his hands to his throat he only pulled himself against the car door as he bled out. Finally he went slack. I wiped the blade on his shoulder and returned the mutitool on my gun belt. I waited for thirty minutes before I saw it. The first twitch. Rex looked up and I knew.

 _So it's not just Heather._

I felt tempted to shoot Rex in the back of the head but if this was real I would need every shot. The world was on the precipice of change and I needed to prepare. I had turned the ruck inside out and replaced all my belongings back into it including the gun belt although I kept the .32 on my ankle. I was going to the nearest hardware store. A hammer never ran out of bullets. Without warning the street lights went out and then I heard it. Screams. Then gun fire. Then explosions. This city was in its death throes and I was stuck in the middle of it.

 _Goodbye Atlanta._

*****Three Weeks Ago*****

"Hey Isaac." Deacon called from his spot in our cell where an aluminum tray held a chess set.

"What?" I asked as I flipped another page of my book.

"Why do you read stuff like that?" Deacon asked as he looked up from his game.

"Like what?" I asked.

"Survival guides and stuff like that. I mean, it's not like you'll need it." Deacon scoffed and moved another pawn off the board.

"When I get out of here I'm going to move out of the city. I can't stand it anymore. The walls. The lights and sounds. I want to be by myself." I answered honestly and Deacon let out a surprised sound.

"What?" I asked as I looked over the pages of my book and at Deacon.

"It's just. I've never heard you speak so passionately about something before." Deacon said simply.

"Well, it's been eight years. Bound to happen sooner or later." I said with a chuckle as I closed the book and set it down, the cover of it read how to suture a wound.

*****Present Day******

In my haste I had forgotten the graze on my left arm. I shakenly tied off the surgeon knot and cut the thread. The wound wasn't particularly deep but it was long and bled a lot. I quickly bagged up what I used to sew myself up and picked up the hammer from the counter. The camping light was bright and it lit up my corner of the store adequately. I had found rope, some makeshift medical supplies, and a reliable weapon with a hammer and a crowbar which I had tucked into a tool belt I had found. It had multiple pockets and the pistol was tucked into one of the open pouches for ease of access. The looting hadn't been as bad on the outskirts of Atlanta and I was lucky to find a well-stocked hardware store. I didn't want to push my luck so I quickly slipped out of the broken store door and with my camp light quickly made my way out of the city as it became a writhing mass of horror and gore.

****A Month Later*****

"That vase…that's something special. 'fess up. You steal it from your Grandma Jean's house? Heh. I hope you left her that spoon collection. Hehehe." The soft chuckle was interrupted by a series of coughs that racked the patient's body.

"Shane? Shane you in the john?" The patient noticed the now dead and dried out flowers at his bed side table and reached out and felt the dry petals crackle under his weak touch.

After thinking for a second he looked at the clock and noticed the hour hand was stuck at two, the minute hand was stuck at seventeen and the second hand was at thirty-two. Fear finally struck his body and he feebly peeled off the various tubes from his body. With a grunt of effort he pulled himself up and grabbed weakly at the I.V stand before pulling himself up only to have his legs collapse from beneath him.

"Nurse! Help! Nurse! Help!" He waited for a few minutes until he was sure help wasn't coming before summoned the strength to stand and hobble to the bathroom door.

Quickly he pushed it open and paused. The man staring back at him was rough. A patchy beard was growing and the gaunt look of someone who had not seen a meal in days or weeks stared back at him. He quickly noticed his midsection was wrapped tightly with gauze that needed a quick change if the smell was any indication. He looked at the sink and suddenly a thirst he had never known before filled him. He clawed at the faucet handle grateful that water flowed quickly out of the spigot. He reached out to the water and greedily drank handfuls before the flow abruptly stopped. Slightly disappointed he turned the handle out of reflex more than anything and exited the bathroom. With his thirst satisfied the urge to investigate took over and he gingerly walked to the door getting more used to walking with each step. Cautiously he pulled the door open and saw a gurney blocking the way. With a weak push he made enough room to walk into the hallway only to discover nothing.

In all the time he was in the hospital there was never a quiet moment. There was always a nurse or two in the hallway, monitors beeping, patients dying, a cry of pain, something but there was only nothing. He noticed that most of the lights still worked although a few flickered or were destroyed. Papers were strewn all over the place. As quickly as he could, he shambled down the hall, his bare feet slapped softly on the linoleum floor. He reached a dark nurses station in a time that seemed to span forever.

With some hesitation he grabbed the phone and held it up to his ear only to grimace as he heard nothing. He rumbled through the counter top to find something of use and found a pack of matches. With great care he held onto the matches and walked down the darkened hallway. When he reached the end he saw a sign that said South Wing Recovery Ward. Cautiously and wary of the various pieces of debris he walked toward the double doors that were closed and peered through the small windows.

Almost immediately he froze as he saw a woman's body on the ground. From the neck down there was nothing but stripped bone and dried blood. The body mesmerized him as he wondered what the hell could do that to a human being. After a few minutes of contemplation he turned away from the scene. He had to get out of here. He looked toward the end of the other hall and began walking toward it. The hallway seemed to have been a warzone as bullet casing, blood, and wasted medical products littered the ground. His blood froze over as he approached the chained doors. The message was clear, Don't Open. Dead Inside. Rick watched as the door opened slightly and the chain strained to keep it closed. A grey hand reached from the darkness and yanked harder on the doors. Suddenly the hand was accompanied by more. All along the edges hands gripped the wooden doors and shook it violently.

Out of instinct he found himself shambling toward the exit stairway. As he closed the door behind him Rick found himself in darkness. Nervously his fingers fumbled with the matchbook and finally was able to light a match to reveal nothing. The images in his mind vanished and he began to make his way down the stairs. It took him two matches to go down two flights of stairs but he made it to the rear entrance to the hospital only to pause at what he saw.

Rick scanned this new world and saw rows and rows of dead bodies. Each one in various stages of decomposition and damaged. The scene made him sick to his stomach as he stumbled past the bodies. After exiting the parking lot he saw a hill and began to climb. To his surprise there was a military helicopter with missing rotator blades. The camp the helicopter was in was surprisingly abandoned with damaged tents and empty crates strewn about. Without warning he felt something heavy land on his shoulder and he saw a sharp edge facing toward his neck.

"Don't move." A male teen's voice stated.

"I-I don't know what you want…but, but I don't have anything." Rick said as calmly as he could.

"Are you bit?" The teen asked.

"Bit?! Look kid, I'm an officer. A deputy." Rick explained only for the teen to chuckle.

"No. You're just another man. Now. Are. You. Bit?" The teen asked and this time Rick felt the blade dig softly into his skin but not puncture it.

"I-" Rick stopped as he felt a press harder against his skin.

"Answer the question or I open your vein." The teen said and this time his tone held a deadly serious tone.

"No. I…I was shot. I think. I've been asleep this whole time. I don't even know what's happening." Rick said and was relieved when the blade left his neck.

"GSW huh? Let me see." The teen said and Rick turned around to see something similar to a stupid show he had seen in passing.

A teenager dressed in combat fatigues and a bullet proof vest with a sword of all things slung over his back was standing in front of him. His face was covered with a camo bandana. He was well armed with a tool belt filled with numerous items. The one that caught Rick's eye was a 9mm pistol. The teen had pulled out a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and some gauze before looking at him expectantly.

"Where is it?" The teen asked annoyed.

With some pain Rick untied his medical gown and pulled it down to reveal an old piece of gauze caked in dry blood. The smell was noticeable to him and to the teen who worked on pull it off.

"This is going to hurt." The teen warned before ripping the gauze off in one swift pull.

"GAH! Ah! Oh shit! Shit! FUCK! Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit." Rick said as he fell to one knee and held his side in agony.

"Stop being a baby." The teen said as he moved Rick's hand away from the wound and quickly poured the hydrogen over the wound.

Rick could barely feel it as his vision blurred and blacked out.

*****Three Hours Later*****

Rick woke up in the compartment of the helicopter. The doors were pulled shut and he saw opposite of him the mysterious teen that had found him.

"You're awake." The teen said as he passed a tin with the label spam toward Rick.

"What happened?" Rick groaned as pulled the tin closer and inspected the contents of the can.

"You passed out. Which was actually favorable. I had to cut out some of the dead flesh and sew you up. You took it like a champ." The teen smiled and looked down at the knife in his hands.

I took in the teen's face and was oddly intimidated. Instead of the acne and fat cheeks that seemed to be becoming the norm his face seemed to be etched out of stone. A few scars dotted his face but it only added onto his character. His hair was in a style that seemed to stem from a flat top and his skin was tanned from hours in the sun. His eyes though held a cool concentration as he cleaned his knife.

"I mean what happened to the world?" I asked as I realized I was dressed in combat fatigues as well.

"The rules changed. I know it'll seem strange to you but now when people die, they don't stay dead." The teen said and I found myself chuckling before stopping at the cold stare he sent my way.

"Wh-what are you talking about?" I asked as the gears in my mind seemed to grind to a stop.

"It's some sort of virus. If you get bitten, assuming you don't get eaten and you find a place to hide and stop the bleeding, you'll get a fever. It'll burn you from the inside out within a few hours. You'll suffer hallucinations, dehydration and ultimately death. Then after a time period from a few minutes to a few hours after death, depending on the bite location, you will come back. Except you won't be you. At that point you'll go after other people and try to eat them. Repeating the cycle. I've also found that regular people, people that haven't been bitten. If they die then they come back too." The teen explained as he sheathed his knife.

"This has to be a joke. This is a joke right?" I asked and the teen simple shook his head.

"I've seen it countless times Rick. You saw those bodies out there. This operating base here." The teen urged and I found myself slowly believing.

"How do you know my name?" I asked and the teen looked bemused and pointed to my wrist, on it was a medical band with my name, blood type, and date of admission.

"Oh. Well, what's your name?" I asked.

"Isaac. Isaac Crane." Isaac held out his hand and I shook it.

"Thank you for your help Isaac. As soon as the sunrise hits I'll be out of your hair. I need to find my family." I said and Isaac nodded his head.

"A worthy goal. Drink your stew then. Killed it a few days ago." Isaac said with an air of pride.

"Uh…maybe tomorrow." I said as politely as I could.

"You'll need it Rick. Drink." Isaac said with the same tone as before.

With little choice I lifted the tin and drank its contents. Although it was no five star meal it wasn't bad. After a few mouthful's it was gone and my body seemed to miss it already. I looked from the empty tin to Isaac who shook his head.

"You won't be able to keep it down if you drink more." He said as he pulled out another blade and clicked his tongue as he rubbed a finger over a chipped edge.

"How do you kill them? If the whole world is like that hospital, how do you put them down?" I asked and Isaac tossed the blade to the side in disgust.

"Massive head trauma. Break the skull and make sure you destroy the brain. Use anything you can find. Guns, knives, bats, whatever it takes. Whatever you think they are, they're not anymore. No hesitation. You'll get yourself killed before you can find your family." Isaac explained and I nodded.

"Got any spare weapons lying around?" I asked and Isaac pointed to a wooden bat that leaned against the side of the helicopter.

"Take it." Isaac said and I reached out and took the bat in hand.

The weight was comforting and I found myself nervous at the thoughts of actually using it to Isaac's direction. I began to feel tired and I laid as comfortably as I could in the cramped compartment. I closed my eyes and listened as Isaac rhythmically check his knives and cleaned them. A few minutes in I finally fell asleep.

*****The Next Morning*****

I woke up to the sun shining in my face. The door was opened and a gently breeze was blowing into the compartment and I blearily brought myself into a crouch and walked out of the helicopter with my hand over my eyes to block against the sunlight. As my eyes adjusted I found a man staring at me. He wore an identical hospital gown that I was wearing yesterday but that's where it ended. Half his face was gone as if something had chewed on it and his skin was sickly grey.

"Isaac?!" I yelled out as I stumbled backward and into the compartment.

I fell heavily on my back and got the wind knocked out of me. The sun blinded me and I barely raised my hands as I caught the thing by its shoulders. Its breath stuck of rotten meat and I screamed more in fear than anything as its broken teeth tried to bite me. I propped it up with my left elbow as I reached for the bat handle with my right hand. I felt my arms begin to give out as it growled at me. Miraculously I felt the handle and hit the things face with the pommel of the bat knocking it off me and onto the asphalt. I took a few heavy breaths as I sat up and saw it trying to do the same. I quickly stood up and swung the bat and heard an audible crack as the things head broke open and it limply fell to its side.

"Oh good. You got one." I heard Isaac say from my right.

"Where were you?!" I asked as I tried to get my breath back.

"Watching you. See the collar on its neck?" Isaac pointed and I saw a collar with a rope leading away from the dead person to Isaac's hand.

"What?" I asked in disbelief.

"You weren't in danger. I had to see if you could handle yourself. And you did. Good job." Isaac congratulated me as he approached me and placed a hand on my shoulder which I shrugged off angrily.

"That was dangerous. I could have died!" I said angrily.

"It had to be done." Isaac said without any sympathy as he jumped into the helicopter and tossed me a light bag with some items in it.

"What's this?" I asked.

"The chances of you making it to where you are going is slim to none. You were half dead when I found you and can barely handle one walker. You won't survive more than a few." Isaac said as he jumped out of the helicopter with a similar bag over his shoulder.

"Then why give me this?" I asked and Isaac placed a hand on the metal body of the helicopter.

"You'll have to pull your weight too. I'm coming with you. I found all I could here. I have no other clear destination in mind and you need someone to watch your back." Isaac explained as he turned toward me.

"I-Thank you." I managed to say.

"Now where does your family live?" Isaac asked.

*****Half a Day Later*****

We finally stopped in front of a quaint house that I assume was Grimes place. I quickly placed a hand on Rick's shoulder and barely dodge a flying fist even though it wouldn't have hurt me any way.

"What the hell are you doing?! My family's in there!" Rick almost swung again before I flicked him between the eyes.

"Shut the fuck up. We don't know who could be in there or what. Now do I have your attention?" I watched as Rick nodded.

"Good. Listen, I know you might not want to hear this but your family...might be one of the walkers. I'll take care of them if they are, a man shouldn't have to put down his family. I'll let you know if it's clear." I put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and walked to the door.

 _A man shouldn't have to put down his family._

 _I was surprised to find the door unlocked and I quickly pushed it open. I waited for any sign of movement and pounded on the wall three times. After a minute nothing moved and I was convinced there were no walkers inside._

 _"Rick. Come on." I called out and Rick moved past me and began to frantically search for any clues for where his family had gone._

 _I quietly opened each cabinet in search of any possible canned food. My search was rewarded with a can of tuna. I quickly pocketed it and found Rick was gone. I sighed before walking outside. I paused as I saw a black kid approach Rick, who sat quietly on his lawn. Without giving my position away I snuck up behind the kid and yanked the shovel out of his hands which prompted a high pitch squeak as he jumped away. The kid looked at me scared and a loud gunshot echoed down the street where a black was running up to us with a .32 raised at us._

 _"Drop it!" The man yelled as he stopped in front of us._

 _"Your kid was about to hit my friend over here." I said defensively._

 _"Duane! I told you not to go out without me!" The man whispered angrily before looking back at me._

 _"Let him go. We'll go our separate ways and forget this happened." The man offered as he lowered his pistol._

 _"I didn't plan on doing anything to him. Take your shovel kid." I said and handed Duane his shovel which he took back gingerly._

 _"Thank you. Duane. Come here." The man ordered and his son obediently ran over to his father._

 _"Rick come on. We got to find shelter before the night comes. That gunshot will attract any walker in a five mile radius." I said as I looked at the dying sun._

 _"We have a shelter a few houses down. The gunshot was my fault." The man said and my respect for him rose._

 _"Sure. What's your name?" I asked._

 _"Morgan. Now come one." Morgan said with a shrug of his shoulder and walked with his son Duane ahead of us._

 _"Come on Rick. Maybe he can answer some questions and we can get a lead on where your family went." I said and Rick nodded before standing up and following me._

 _*****Later On that Night*****_

"No one knows where it came from. First we heard a few instances on the news about people biting people, a riot here and there but, before we knew what had happened the whole system shut down. Hospitals were overrun first, then the firefighters, and police, eventually the military tried to step in but by then it was too late between the walkers and the Great Panic they were shredded." Morgan's face got more sullen as the memories of the last few weeks went through his head.

"We managed to get here but, my wife got sick and we got stuck here. We were trying to get to Atlanta. The last we heard on the radio was that there was a call for a regroup at Atlanta and that they would take care of any survivors who made it there." Morgan finished and began to pour some soup into a few plastic bowls.

"Atlanta regrouped for a while from what I heard. They managed to contain the dead. I got out at the start of the epidemic and I've stayed out." I put in my two cents and gratefully ate some soup.

"Then that's where we're going. But first we'll hit the police station. They have an armory there and there's a chance we'll snag more weapons and some supplies. Maybe a car or two." Rick added.

"Sounds like a plan. Any firearm is more than welcomed in times like these." I added and Morgan nodded.

"Where'd you get the wicked sword? It looks like something out of my comic books." Duane asked excitedly.

"This? I found a broken helicopter and managed to pop off one of its rotator blades with a welding torch. I grinded that son of a bitch for two weeks before getting a cutting edge. It's the best weapon I've ever made." I said proudly.

"You made it?" Duane asked.

"Creativity can mean the difference between life and death now. Anything and everything is a weapon. You'd do well to remember it." I stated as I downed the rest of my soup.

"Well, I guess we should get some rest. Tomorrow is a big day." Morgan suggested.

"I'll take first watch." Rick volunteered and none of us argued with him as we all went to our little corner of the house and bunked down for the night.

*****The Next Day*****

I gasped for air as I pulled my head out of the stream of hot water and wiped the remaining droplets away from my eyes. I had waited for the others to finish giving the excuse of checking the rest of the station for supplies and keeping an eye out for walkers. When they had finished and Rick, Duane, and Morgan went to the armory, I quickly took off my armor and shoved myself under a steady stream of water falling from the shower head. After shampooing and washing off my body I reluctantly turned the shower off and began toweling off. For the first time in what had seemed like an eternity I felt good. I felt human. I quickly redressed and felt comforted by the familiar weight of my tool belt and my rotor sword. I was fitting my boots on when Rick showed up in the doorway with a bag of weapons over his shoulder and a cop uniform accompanied with a hat.

"Good haul?" I asked as I finished knotting my laces.

"Could be better. Someone got to it before we did. Probably one of the other deputies or something. Come on. Morgan and Duane are waiting for us in the parking lot." Rick waved with his free hand and began walking down the hallway.

I quickly caught up with him as and followed him through the tiny police station. I didn't bother asking about his outfit as we opened the doors and saw Morgan and Duane waiting next to a jeep. Rick quickly approached them and looked over their gear before turning back toward Morgan.

"Conserve your ammo. It goes faster than you think. Especially during target practice." Rick stated but I could tell they had already been through this.

We all stared at each other awkwardly not sure how to say good bye.

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Rick asked.

"Yeah. We'll leave in a couple of days. By then Duane will know how to shoot and I won't be so rusty." Morgan looked at a Jeep and then back at us.

Rick reached into his bag and pulled out an old radio and handed it over. "You have one battery. I'll turn mine on every few minutes at dawn if you get up there that's how you'll find me."

"You think ahead." Morgan chuckled and grabbed the radio before handing it to Duane.

"Can't afford not to." Rick grinned a bit before shaking hands with Morgan.

"The only advice I can give you now is that one or two of them might not be much but when they're in a pack riled up and hungry…watch your ass." Morgan stated and I figured it was my turn to say good bye.

"Good luck Morgan. Keep your son safe." We shook hands and nodded at each other but the silence was broken by a soft shuffling noise and as we turned we saw a walker coming toward us dressed in a ripped and bloody police uniform that looked similar to the one Rick had on.

"Leon Bassest-I didn't think much of him. Careless and dumb but-I can't leave him like this." Rick shook his head to rid himself of any doubts as he strode over to the chain link fence that held Leon back.

"They'll hear the shot." I called out.

"Let's not be here when they show up." Rick replied over his shoulder as he raised his pistol and fired.

We watched as the walker formally known as Leon Bassest stiffen then fall down like a doll with its strings cut off.

"Let's go." I said as I calmly walked to the police car and the others followed suit to their respective vehicles.

Morgan pulled out of the parking lot first and honked twice as he drove back into town and Rick set off the sirens twice in return. I didn't look back. After all they would be dead. Maybe not today or tomorrow but the survivalist, the veteran, the killer in me knew they wouldn't make it. I didn't tell Rick because I knew he wouldn't; he couldn't think that way. As we continued down an empty road going out of town Rick turned on the radio and began trying to communicate with anyone who might have a working radio.

"Wake me up when there's something to do." I gently leaned my head against the window and closed my eyes.

"Hello can you hear my voice?" Rick called out.

*****10 Miles Outside of Atlanta*****

"Hello can you hear my voice?" A group of startled people stared at the radio that had been up till now filling the camp with nothing but white noise.

A young blonde, gathered her wits first and ran over to the radio. The blonde picked up the mic and depressed the trigger as she talked into it.

"Hey! Hello?!" She almost screamed into the mic.

"Can anyone hear my voice?" The male voice over the radio repeated.

"Yes, I can hear you. You're coming through, over." The blonde said barely keeping her voice below shouting level.

"Can anyone hear me? Please respond. Broadcasting on emergency channel. Will be approaching Atlanta on highway 85. If anybody reads please respond." The male voice said calmly.

Instantly a panic took over the camp and the blonde looked anxious as their fears grew.

"We're just outside the city!...Hello?! Hello?!" This time she screamed into the mic.

"Try hailing him again. Come on son you know best how to work this thing." Suggested an older man with a hunting rifle over his shoulder.

Suddenly an ax buried itself right next to the radio and a thirty year old man picked up the mic.

"Hello, hello. Is the person who called still on the air? This is Officer Shane Walsh broadcasting to person unknown. Please respond." After a few seconds he dropped the mic onto the tree stump the radio was on.

"He's gone." He said grimly.

"There are others. Not just us." A brunette this time stated.

"We knew there would be. It's why we left the C.B on." Shane said in a vindicated tone at which the brunette took offense.

"Lot of good it's been doing." She retorted as she continued. "I've been saying for a week we ought to be putting up signs on the highway warning people away from the city." She finished with a gesture.

"Folks have no idea what their getting into." The blonde spoke softly.

"We haven't had time." Shane said as he stood up as the brunette fixed a hard glare on him.

"I think we need to make time." She said as Shane rubbed his chin.

"That's a luxury we can't afford. We are surviving here. We are day to day." Shane defended.

"Who are we supposed to send?" The older man asked.

The brunette thought for a moment before pointing to herself. "I'll go. Give me a vehicle."

"Nobody goes alone, everyone knows that." Shane replied with the ease that comes with saying something many times, finally the brunette sighed and backed down.

"Yes sir." She walked off and the group scattered once more to do their daily duties.

Shane quickly followed behind the brunette into her tent before confronting her once more.

"Listen, I'm not going to put you in danger. Okay? I'm not doing it for anything. Listening you feel like you need to slap me upside the head do it, I'm right here." Both looked at each other silently until Shane started talking again this time calmer.

"Look, you cannot just walk off like that. All halfcocked like you want to do it for my sake or your own. The boy has been through too much to lose his mother too. Okay?" Shane said as he took a step closer.

"Okay." The brunette whispered as they both looked down then back at each other.

The two chuckled as the tension left the room. They grabbed each other with familiarity and pressed their lips together. The moment seemed like it would grow into something else when a voice pierced the air.

"Mom?" A voice outside the tent asked tentively.

The two broke apart and Shane quickly opened the flap and stepped out.

"She's in there." Shane answered the boy and as he walked away the brunette leaned down eye leveled to her boy.

"I'm not going anywhere. Okay?" The boy smiled as he was reassured and hugged his mom.

*****Ten Miles Outside of Atlanta*****

Ricked grabbed a photo from the visor above the driver's seat and smiled at it. It was a picture of him, his wife Lori, and his son Carl in happier times. He quickly folded the photo up and placed it into the gun bag as he stepped out of the car.

"I can't believe you didn't check on the gas before we left." I said as I worked out the kinks in my back.

"You go into a coma for a little while and see what you remember after you wake up." Rick threw the duffel bag over his shoulder and held out the gas can toward me and I scoffed.

"You're the one who forgot the gas." I said as I looked down the highway trying to see any gas stations or anything that could help us.

"But I also got us the guns." Rick stated as he jingled the can once more.

"I saved your life. If it wasn't for me you would have been in septic shock by now from your wound." I retaliated.

"You sicked a walker on me." Rick said rebutted.

"You were never in any real danger." I dismissed.

"Fine. I'll carry the guns AND the gas can." Rick said irritably.

"Good. You'll need to build up some muscle any way. I think I see something five miles down the road. Come on. It's a long walk." I jibed at him before starting to walk.

The walk was pretty mundane and in no time we reached a farmhouse. As we came up the road we both watched, somewhat amazed as a lone horse grazed in its pen.

"You take care of the horse. I'll take the house. If we can't find gas here you'll need some form of transportation. You still haven't healed up enough for a walk to Atlanta." Rick accepted the explanation and sighed before he walked over to the pen and called out softly for the horse.

I turned and walked up the two steps of the porch, pistol ready in case the owners decided to try their luck. I looked through the window to see a classic case of murder suicide. Flies buzzed around the corpses in black masses. Without care I broke the window and slid my way over the window sill. Bodies will be bodies but you can never have enough food. I raided what food I could salvage from the kitchen and carelessly threw them into a potato sack I found. On my way out I picked up the shotgun and a half full box of shells. Happily I made my way to Rick who stood next to the horse.

"Nothing inside but a few cans of peaches and pancake mix. Although I did managed to pick up the gun and a half box of shells. Ready to head out?" I asked as I handed Rick the gun and the ammo which he quickly put into the bag before hopping on the horse.

"Yeah." Rick offered a hand but I declined with a shake of my head.

"I'll keep up just fine. It'll take a little longer to reach Atlanta but we should take our time. Atlanta isn't too far away. Besides I don't think this old girl can handle two people at the same time." I looked to the distance and saw the outskirts of Atlanta.

"Yeah…alright." Rick said hesitantly but he abided by what I said.

With nothing else left to say Rick urged the horse forward and it began to walk leisurely and I kept up pace. Within two hours we had transverse the country side and come onto a major highway leading into Atlanta. We both looked at the outbound lane and saw nothing but derelict cars which clogged up the lanes. Maybe it was just me but I could almost hear the screams and chaos from the scene and I shook my head to clear the images I had conjured in my head.

"Makes me glad I got out of here early." I said and Rick looked back at me.

"Was it bad?" Rick asked.

"It was the Great Panic. People fighting people. People fighting walkers. And the Military killing everyone they found." I recounted and Rick seemed hesitant to enter the City before nodding.

"My family could be at the C.D.C. You don't have to come with me." Rick looked down at me and I sighed.

"You'll need someone to watch your back. Besides, I might get some good loot out of the deal." I said with a grin.

"Well thanks." Rick said appreciatively as he tapped the horse's sides and the horse and I began walking into the City.

* * *

Well I hope you all enjoyed the beginning of this story. I'm feeling good about it.


	2. A Dead Man

A Dead Man

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Author's Note: Here's the next chapter. I hope you all enjoy it.

"Talking"

 _Thoughts_

* * *

 _Sun Tzu mentioned something in his book about if the opportunity presents itself one should always take the high ground. In the history of warfare it has been a key factor is almost all engagements. Right now I could sure use more than just high ground._

I planted my foot firmly on the walker's chest and kicked it off the tank. I turned swiftly and cut another walker's neck with my rotor sword and turned it into a pez dispenser. I stepped further upward on top of the tank and stomped a walker's skull into the armored vehicle before taking a second to examine my environment.

 _Height doesn't mean shit in this hoard._

I watched the walker horde finally take down the old horse Rick had rode into town. The squealing brought the attention of most of the horde on the horse and most of the walkers broke off from assaulting me for easier prey. Still, there was a good forty walkers clambering up the tank. I quickly jumped on the very last of my real estate and swung my sword a few times, each one scoring another kill. Suddenly the hatch beneath my feet opened as I kicked a walker in the mouth and sent it flying into two other dead beats.

"There's a kid on the radio that thinks he can get us out of here." Rick said as he bashed a walker's face in with a trench shovel.

"What's the plan?" I grabbed a walker by its head and slammed it against the tank effectively smashing the skull to bits.

"If we can clear a path to the east there's an alley that's gated. The kid is waiting for us there and we can get to the roof tops from the fire escape." Rick explained as he pulled himself up and shot a walker in the face.

"We don't have a choice." I grabbed the closest walker by the shirt and used what strength I had to toss it onto the most walkers in our way.

Immediately I jumped after it and landed safely. I heard Rick behind me and I started running. We weaved around the ones that we could and took down the ones we couldn't. In a few seconds we turned a corner and saw an Asian kid holding a gate open.

"Wait! I'm alive!" The kid yelled and we jumped into the alley and after a short sprint we made it to the fire escape.

I turned and cut down the closest walker behind me with my sword as Rick went up and then the Asian kid. I swiftly crouched down and swung in a full 360 turn cutting out the walkers legs from beneath them. With the brief respite I jumped on the escape ladder and scrambled up the ladder. As soon as I reached the top I felt hands grab my shoulder and pull me up the rest of the way onto the grated floor. I laid there panting as the events of the last hour finally seeped into my bones.

"Nice moves there Clint Eastwood. What are you the new sheriff riding into town?" The Asian teen said.

"It wasn't my intention." Rick breathed out.

"Whatever. You're still a dumb ass." Was the sharp retort as the Asian kid finally caught his breath.

"Who are you supposed to be? The terminator or something?" He asked as he offered his hand and I grabbed it and let him pull me up.

"Just helping this jackass." I said as I put a foot on the fire escape and wiped the blade on my pants leg.

"We can both agree on that. I'm Glenn." He introduced himself.

"I'm Rick, and this is Isaac." Rick looked down and we all finally noticed the amount of walkers pushing into the alley.

"We got to go up." Glenn instructed and looked up the ladder that led to the roof.

"Well, it'll be the fall that kills us." I noted and Glenn smiled.

"That's what I was thinking. Come on. Let's go." Glenn took the lead once more and we all got to the roof without a mishap.

We all took the moment to rest and I pulled out a bottle of water from my ruck sack. I took a few gulps then passed it around before continuing on our way.

"Are you the one that barricaded the alley? Rick asked as we crossed over a makeshift bridge between two buildings.

"No. Someone else did. I guess that someone thought that by doing that less geeks would get through." We stopped as Glenn opened a hatch on the roof.

"Back at the tank why'd you stick your neck out for me?" Rick asked.

"Call it foolish naive hope that when I'm that far up shit creek someone might do the same for me. Guess that makes me a bigger dumb ass than you." Glenn stated as he went down the ladder.

Rick then I shortly followed, Glenn quickly guided us out of the building to another fire escape. As we continued down he pulled a radio out of his bag and turned it on.

"I'm back with some guest. Two geeks in the alley." We came to a stop at the foot of the stairs where two walkers had stopped.

I quickly jumped in front of them and charged the two walkers. With two quick strokes I decapitated both of them. At that moment a door on the opposite side of us opened and two pad protected men gestured at us to come over. Rick, Glenn and I quickly jogged over and ran into the doorway. It took a second for my eyes to adjust but when it did I was confronted by a blonde woman attached to a gun which was pointed in my face. It was reflex more than anything but I quickly sidestepped the barrel and grabbed her face with my right hand and placed my right leg behind her own. With a shove I quickly threw her off her feet and roughly onto the ground. The blow stunned her and I planted my sword at the base of her throat.

"Stop!" I heard Glenn yell and I saw him and the two padded figures ready to jump on me.

I looked back down at the groaning woman and with a sigh I pulled the sword away.

"Don't threaten me." I warned and the three men nodded as they approached the down woman and made sure she was okay.

I stood by Rick and we both looked to the other side of the room where the two padded men had gotten the blonde woman on her feet and another black woman was looking at me with fear in her eyes. Within a few minutes Rick and I were in a standoff with Glenn's group.

"You assholes called the entire city down on us. We're all dead because of you two." The blonde said, more fear than anger was in her voice.

"Nothing we can do about it now. All we can do now, is survive." I said dispassionately.

"Who are you supposed to be? Some sort of samurai?" One of the padded men said as he removed his helmet revealing a black man.

"Just a survivor." I said as I took a spare rag from my tool belt and wiped the sword carefully.

"And you?" The other padded man asked as he removed his helmet and revealed a Mexican man.

"I'm just trying to find my family." Rick said as both men pulled the pads off themselves.

"Glenn are they cool?" The Mexican man said as he finished undressing.

 _A leader. But not accustomed to leadership. Perhaps this is just a smaller group connected to a larger group._

"Yeah. They're cool." Glenn affirmed and the leader nodded before motioning for everyone to follow.

"Listen, we came into the city scouting for supplies. You know what the key to scavenging is? Surviving. You know the key to surviving? Sneaking in and out. Tip toeing. Not shooting up the street like the o.k corral." Finally we emerged into natural sunlight and in front of two sets of glass doors displaying walkers.

"Every geek from miles around heard those shots." Said the black man.

"You just rang the dinner bell." The blonde spoke grimly.

The silence was penetrated by the sound of rock against glass. I watched in curiosity as a walker waved a piece of cement into the glass doors.

"T-dog can you get anyone on the radio?" The black man quickly turned on the radio in his hands before frowning deeply.

"Are you contacting the refugee center?" Rick asked hope in his voice.

"Yeah cause they have cookies waiting for us." Whispered the other woman.

"No signal...maybe the roof." T-dog exclaimed.

Suddenly a gun shot went off and everyone but me ran up to the roof. Whatever it was I figured they could handle it. Now if those walkers manage to break through the glass on both doors and nobody is down here then everyone is screwed.

 _Morons. All these clothes and not the brains enough to cover the windows and doors. Fucking amateurs._

I immediately set to the task of moving the clothes in the department store into position in from of the glass doors. The task only took ten minutes and after a few minutes the pounding on the doors lessened as the walkers lost sight of me. I started to move the now empty clothing racks into makeshift barricades when the rest of the group minus T-Dog came down the stairs.

"T-Dog alright?" I asked.

"Yeah. Just a little beat up. One of their group went a little...off track." Rick said.

"Does he need straightening out?" I raised my gaze to the staircase.

"Nah. He's handcuff on the roof." Rick turned and looked at the doors.

"Smart idea to cover them up." Rick said as he inspected my work.

"It's not too smart for people who aren't new at this." I said with a slight bitterness in my voice and the group seemed a little abashed that they hadn't thought of it.

"Alright, Glenn show us where these tunnels are." The group moved as one leaving only rick and I in the room.

"You should go too. They might need you and it seems like they've gained a new sense of respect for you in the short time we've been here." I said as I continued working on the barricades.

"Leader? I'm no leader." Rick shook his head as if to dissuade me.

"Listen Rick. The Mexican and the blonde are scared out of their minds, from what I gather so is that other chick. T-Dog's not in a position to lead. Glenn seems to be the most level headed but he's too inexperienced. I have no interest in it. Rick, nobody asks to be a leader. You just are. I got this, go see if they need help." Rick just looked at me for a second before going down the hall.

 _Besides it's not like I have any plans to stay any longer than I have too. These people will get me killed._

*****Ten Minutes Later*****

Rick and, the now named, Andrea walked back and told me about the plan. After a few quick apologies, none of which I gave, the two began to talk about the current situation. I learned the other members of the group's name were and continued my watch. Suddenly the sound of shattering glass filled the room and I ran to a little peephole and watched as a group of fifty walkers push in.. Andrea and Rick ran up beside me but I quickly gestured not to fire.

"It'll only weaken the glass." They both nodded and brought down their pistols.

I turned sharply and watched as Morales, Jacqui, and Glenn rushed into the room.

"What'd you find down there?" Rick asked.

"Not a way out." Morales panted.

"We need to find a way." Andrea said desperately.

"Go upstairs and see if you can find a path Rick. You guys go with him. I'll make sure this place remains secure." The group looked at me then at Rick.

Rick sighed and went to the roof and the group followed.

A short time later they came back down and set about their tasks. I finished the setting up the last of the empty racks and sat back. The doors wouldn't hold. I'd have to be ready for that.

*****Twenty Minutes Later*****

As soon as the sound of thunder echoed from outside I knew that Rick's plan was going to go to shit. Then I heard the sound of gunshots echo through the streets.

"Rick I hope you're as smart as I give you credit for." The noise and the smell of meat made the walkers more violent and they crushed harder against the doors.

It didn't take long for me to feel vindicated as the sound of a car alarm rushed past the department store and shortly afterward the rest of the groups poured down the stairs.

"Where's T-dog?" I asked as I looked at them from the doors.

"He's still up there getting Merle out of the handcuffs. We gotta go man, the walkers are going crazy!" The group ran off down the hallway and disappeared down a turn.

Thirty seconds later T-Dog rushed down with shame on his face. I grabbed him before he could skirt around me.

"Where's Merle?" I asked sharply.

"I d-d-dropped the key. He's still up there! There was nothing I could do man." He screamed as we both paused as the last glass doors finally shattered.

"He's fucked! Let's go." I grabbed his arm and pushed him forward and followed after him.

I followed T-Dog to the loading bay and saw Morales jump into the moving truck. Within in seconds both T-Dog and I did the same.

"We're in! Step on it!" I yelled as I grabbed the door and pulled it closed behind us.

"Where's Dixon?" Rick asked as he turned onto the now cleared streets.

"I-I dropped the damn keys." T-Dog said morosely.

"Damn it." Rick swore once more before shaking his head and planting his eyes firmly on the road.

"Where's Glenn?" Andrea asked.

"He's got a ride." Rick said and this time a smile returned to his face.

*****Thirty Minutes Later*****

I followed Glenn in the red mustang trusting him to lead us to where we need to go. The group was silent, resting from their ordeal. We eventually got onto a dirt path that lead up into the hills. Eventually I had to slow the truck down as the incline got too steep. I lost sight Glenn but there were no other turns he could have taken so I just kept going straight.

"Our camp is just up ahead." Morales said and almost to confirm that the mustangs alarm system shut off. I pulled up to the camp site which contained a few tents, the mustang and an R.V.

Finally I felt the fatigue of the day hit me and I rested my head on the steering wheel. Morales clamped a hand down on my shoulder reassuringly knowing what I was thinking about.

"Let's introduce you to the camp." Morales got out and I watched as he embraced his kids and wife.

Andrea was hugging her sister and the rest of the survivors were hugged and shook hands. I quickly took a deep breath to compose myself before I stepped out of the truck. The sun blinded me slightly and I had to look down but when I looked up the whole camp had quieted down and suddenly my heart stopped.

"Shane?" I looked at my best friend and felt the wind get knocked out from me. In a panic I looked around quickly and saw Carl and Lori who stood off to the side.

"Oh my God..." I whispered as I felt the world drop from beneath me.

"Dad!" My son screamed in joy and I ran to meet him and swept him into my arms.

My legs couldn't take the weight of the moment and I crumpled over my boy and held him close. Lori ran over and I pulled her close to me and I took the time to focus solely on my family. The only thing that broke the mood was when there was a clattering of dishes as they fell to the ground.

"Isaac?" I heard a woman gasp and I looked up to see Isaac standing just behind us, with his lips pressed into a thin line.

"Mother." He said through his teeth.

The women he called mother was a thin stick of a woman who looked like a simple breeze could knock her over. She wasn't ugly but she had certainly aged. She had short grey hair and a look on her face akin to the shock of finding someone you've always known was dead was in fact not. On her hip was a sandy haired girl who looked to be about Carl's age and she looked questioningly at Isaac.

"Carol who is this?" A fat older man asked in a gruff tone.

"I'm her son. Who are you?" Isaac asked in a neutral tone.

"Her husband you little shit!" The man said and I could sense the discomfort in the camp as the man spoke.

"You sure know how to pick them." Isaac said lazily which seemed to aggravate the man into advancing forward only to pause as Carol put her hands on his chest.

"Come on Jacob. I'll rub your feet how you like it." Carol begged only for Jacob to push her roughly off to the side and continued advancing.

At this point Shane stepped in front of Jacob and pointed back toward the tents.

"Jacob. You better back off." Shane whispered dangerously.

Jacob seemed like he wanted to make a retort or push back but he thought better of it. He looked over Shane's shoulder and gave Isaac a dirty look before turning around and waking toward Carol. He roughly grabbed her arm and began dragging her away.

"Come on." He growled out as Carol allowed herself to be pulled away and Sophia gave one last look toward Isaac before rushing after her mother.

"Hey Jacob!" Isaac called out and Jacob turned around abruptly with a retort on his lips.

In stunned silence all watched as Jacob's forehead exploded into bits as a bullet caught him between the eyes. As if in slow motion Jacob collapsed and laid dead on the floor. I pushed Lori and Carl behind me as Isaac lowered his pistol. Shane moved to restrain him but Isaac quickly grabbed Shane around his waist and using his momentum threw him over his hip and solidly onto the ground with a heavy thud.

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" Shane yelled out as he got off his back onto one knee.

"I knew something was wrong with him! I knew it!" Andrea screamed as she pulled her sister toward her protectively which was quickly mimicked by the rest of the people in the camp.

"Something wrong with me?!" Isaac shouted as he did a sweeping motion with his gun.

"Something wrong with me. No. There's something wrong with you! How many more bruises was my mother going to show up with before anyone did anything about Jacbo?" I questioned waiting for a response.

"We protected her!" One of the women in the camp shouted and Isaac pointed his gun toward her.

"Don't you dare say that! If you had protected her Jacob would have been in the ground a long time ago. I didn't spend eight years of my life rotting in juvie for her or my sister to be in danger like before. You remember right mom? You remember what Ed did to me? You remember what he did to you? What he was going to do to Sophia?! I killed him to protect us and I killed Jacob to protect you and everyone in this camp. Can none of you see that?" Isaac asked angrily.

"We get it." I said and Isaac turned his attention toward me but he kept his gun lowered.

"Rick, you did everything you could to get back to your family. Wouldn't you protect them in any way if something put them in danger?" Isaac asked and I watched as Shane recovered enough to move.

"Yeah I would." I replied and with a wag of my finger Shane rushed his legs as I tackled him.

We landed in a large pile but after a few bumps and bruises Isaac was handcuff behind his back. Shane and I grabbed him by his shoulders and pulled him to a nearby tree. An older man with a white beard ran toward us and handed us a rope. Quickly we wrapped him up three times before tying the knot on the opposite side of the tree. Isaac didn't struggle and instead looked at us with a cold fury.

"You haven't seen it yet have you?" He whispered as he looked at the camp.

"We've seen what's out there. We can handle it." Shane nodded as if to reassure himself.

"No. I see it in you all. You've never been out there. Not long enough. You've been sheltered here. I've been out there since the beginning. I've been running since the outbreak first hit Atlanta. But wait and see. Sooner or later you'll understand. There can be no room for men like Jacob. Garbage." Isaac spat as he blinked some blood out of his right eye.

With that we all turned away and looked at Jacob's body which Carol and Sophia were looking at numbly. Without saying a word Carol wrapped Sophia in a hug and pulled her away to their tent. Shane pulled me aside and looked back at Isaac who had closed his eyes and rested his head against the trunk of his tree.

"What the hell did you bring back here?" Shane whispered angrily.

"I don't know. He was fine. He saved me after I escaped from the hospital. He's been helping me since I met him. He's never acted like this." I whispered back.

"He's a loose cannon. We cannot keep him here." Shane said urgently.

"We can't just turn him loose." I protested.

"What do you suggest then? We kill him?" Shane asked.

"No! No. We wait. Wait for it all to settle down. He told us his side of the story. You heard him." I said only for Shane to shake his head.

"Yeah I heard him. I heard him admit to killing his father and now he's killed his stepfather. That's two for two. What if he decides to come gunning after all of us next?" Shane asked as he took off his cap.

"Hey! What were you going to do? You saw her bruises and you did nothing. Where were you? You're a police officer. You're supposed to take care of things like that. Maybe if you had, Jacob wouldn't be dead right now." I said and despite myself I couldn't keep an accusing tone out of it and Shane shook his head with a rueful chuckle.

"Hey. Listen man. I was protecting your family. Your family; while you were in a coma. I've been keeping these people together damn near since the beginning. You don't know what it was like during the Great Panic. The fact that I got anyone else out of there alive is a miracle. Since then I've been trying to keep people together. Did I slip on Jacob and Carol? Maybe…but it was manageable." Shane defended.

"Well thanks to him." I pointed with my head toward Isaac. "It's settled. Maybe he's not wrong." I ended it with that and turned away from Shane to where Lori and Carl were standing next to a tent.

Shane watched Lori and Carl pull Rick into their tent and rubbed his hand through his hair. With a grunt he kicked the dirt and placed his cap back on his head.

"Poor Shane. You thought he was dead huh? Then you stuck your hand in his honeypot. Now that he's back where does that leave you?" Isaac spoke and Shane quickly looked around and was relieved to see no one was around to hear him say that.

"Shut your mouth. You don't know a damn thing." Shane said angrily before walking away.

"I know a lot more than most." Isaac said as he moved his hands together.

Night came and went and as I woke up I felt better than I had in a long time. I noticed that Lori and Carl were nowhere to be found. I noticed with a small level of shock that a fresh pair of clothes were on the ground next to the entrance of the tent. With a grunt I got up and walked over toward the freshly folded clothes. After a few seconds I had on blue jeans and a plain white T and a pair of blue shoes. After taking a steadying breath I readied myself before I stepped out of the tent to see the camp in full swing. Already people were in the middle of their morning routines and as I weaved through I saw Carol who was ironing some clothes with an old fashion iron, the one made to use coals.

"Morning." She called out demurely as if at any moment someone would take offense to the volume of her voice.

"Good morning." I responded kindly as I awkwardly stopped in front of her.

"They're still a little damp." Carol apologized and rubbed the ironing board nervously. "Sun will have them dry out in no time." She said with a slight shudder as she gripped the iron once more and ran it along some pants.

"You wash clothes and iron them as well?" I asked and Carol let out a small grin.

"Well, as well as I could. It's ain't half as good as my old Maytag back at home." Carol said as she lowered her eyes back at the ironing board.

"It's very kind. Thank you." I said as I nodded my head in appreciation and an awkward pause bloomed between us.

"Your son." I paused as she stiffened and placed the iron gently down.

"My son. Isaac." She whispered and I nodded carefully.

"Wh-what could you tell me about him?" I asked slightly hesitant.

"He's-always looking out for his family. He's always tried his best to take care of me." Carol said sniffling before continuing.

"My first husband was bad. I tried to get away a few times but he found me. He always did. Isaac would beg me to stay at the shelter but when I saw the bruises and the cuts on his little body…I came back. One night I came home after a grocery run and found him dragging Ed's body out of Sophia's room. I panicked and called the police." Carol took a shaky breath before shaking her head.

"No. Sorry. I can't do this. Please leave me alone." She requested and feeling guilty I nodded wordlessly and walked over to Glenn who stared miserably at the red mustang that Dale, Morales and Jim, were dismantling for parts.

"Look at them. The vultures. Yeah go on. Strip it clean." Glenn said as he crossed his arms as the men worked over the body of the car with efficiency.

"Generators need every drop of fuel they can get. Got no power without it. Sorry Glenn." Dale said with a smile as he walked past us with a half way filled fuel can.

"Thought I'd get to drive it a few more days." Glenn whispered mournfully.

"Well maybe we'll get to steal another one someday." I whispered back and patted him on the shoulder reassuringly.

I turned around and found my next stop. Lori was hanging up clothes with Andrea and her sister. Each one gave me shy smile before giggling to themselves the way only girls can do. I smiled shyly before walking over.

"Hello officer. How'd you sleep?" Lori asked with a content smile.

"Better than I have in a long time." I replied and she chuckled at that.

"Well, I didn't want to wake you. I figured you could use it." Lori said as she hung up a pair of socks.

"I've been thinking-about the man we left behind." I ventured and Lori frowned.

"You're not serious." She stated as she grabbed another shirt from her hamper before angrily clipping it to the clothes line.

Before I could say anything else I heard the roar of a jeep and saw Shane pulling around the bend. As he stopped in front of us he turned off the engine and stepped out.

"Water's here y'all. Just a reminder boil before use." Shane said as he pulled on his gloves and grabbed at the nearest container.

"Are you asking me or are you telling me?" Lori whispered out and I could hear that familiar sigh of exasperation coming.

"Asking." I said simply.

"Well, I think it's crazy. Crazier than when you brought him into the camp." Lori said as she nodded toward Isaac who sat lazily against his tree.

"I mean it's the stupidest way to break-" Before she could finish a girlish shriek emanated from the woods.

"Mom!" Carl yelled out in fear.

Without a second to spare everyone scrambled toward the noise. I caught a spare tool that Shane had tossed me and sprinted to where the panicked screams were emanating from. It wasn't long before I saw Carl and Sophia who both ran toward us unharmed and Jacqui brought up the rear and pointed to the cause of all this panic. We moved a little further into the woods and found the culprit. A lone walker was gnawing on a freshly killed deer. Slowly it pulled away from the deer and turned toward us before hissing angrily. Without missing a beat I smacked it solidly on the face knocking it back a few feet before it came me again. Shane hit it with the butt of his shotgun and pretty soon everyone was starting to hit it until it got knocked down. The walker kept trying to get up despite the blows we were dealing and only stopped when Dale lifted an ax and chopped its head off. Everyone took a step back as we were once again confronted with the prowess of our enemy.

"It's the first one we had up here. They've never come this high up the mountain before." Dale said breaking the silence.

"Well, they're running out of food in the city that's what." Jim spoke aloud.

Before any of us could catch more than a few breaths we heard the sounds of twigs breaking from further in the forest and we all got ready for another fight but were quickly relieved when a man with a crossbow, wearing black riding leathers and a beige tank top appeared from behind a boulder.

"Jesus." Shane uttered as he lowered his shotgun.

"Son of a bitch! That's my deer." The strange man said as he stalked forward toward the downed deer.

"Look at it. All gnawed on by this filthy, diseased-bearing motherless poxy bastard!" The man yelled as he kicked the body of the walker over and over again.

"Calm down son. That's not going to help anyone now." Dale said trying to assuage the man's anger.

"What would you know about it old man? Why don't you take your stupid hat and go back to "On Golden Pond". I've been tracking this deer for miles." The man gave up and turned back to the deer and began pulling his arrows out with a soft grunt.

"I'm going to drag it back to camp and cook us up some venison. What do you think? Think we can just cut around this chewed up part right here?" The man asked trying to salvage the deer.

"I would not risk that." Shane stated as he placed the shotgun on his shoulders.

"It's a damn shame. I got us some squirrels though. About a dozen or so. That'll have to do." The man said and that would have been that if the decapitated head didn't clack its teeth.

"Come on people. What the hell?" The man asked as he aimed his crossbow and shot the head through the eye.

"It's gotta be the brain. Don't you all know nothing?" The man asked as he removed his arrow and walked past us and into camp.

"Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! I got us some squirrels. Let's stew them up." The man called out as he dropped his pack and crossbow next to his things and once more began looking for Merle.

"Daryl! Just slow up a bit. I need to talk to you." Shane called out.

"About what?" The newly labeled Daryl asked.

"About Merle-there was a problem. A problem in Atlanta." Shane said slowly.

"He dead?" Daryl asked as he began pacing.

"We're not sure." Shane said with shrug of his shoulders.

"He either is or he ain't!" Daryl said aggressively.

"There's no easy way to say it so I'll say it." I said as I approached Daryl who turned quickly to face me.

"Who are you?" He asked eyeing me up for the first time.

"Rick Grimes." I answered.

"Rick. Grimes. You got something you want to tell me?" Daryl asked.

"Your brother was a danger to us all. So I handcuffed him to the roof. Hooked him on a piece of metal. He's still there." I explained as Daryl turned around and walked a few steps before pausing.

"Hold on. Let me process this. You're saying you handcuffed my brother to the roof and you left him there?!" Daryl yelled out angrily.

"Yeah." I said simply.

Without missing a beat Daryl threw his line of squirrels at my face and attempted to rush me only to be blindsided by Shane and knocked on his ass.

"You better stay down Dixon." The familiar voice of Isaac broke through the chaos and Daryl surprisingly grew still.

"What the hell?" Shane asked as he looked at Isaac still bound to the tree.

"Isaac?" Daryl asked in disbelief as he got to his feet.

"One and only. Now calm down. I may be tied up and handcuffed but when has that ever stopped me from kicking your white trash ass into the fucking curb?" Isaac asked and we all watched as Daryl nodded slightly out of respect and seemed to calm down faster than I would have ever expected.

"Alright. Let's just keep this calm. What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others." I said and Daryl seemed about to burst into another fit of rage but managed to keep it contained.

"It's not Rick's fault. I had the key. I dropped it." T-Dog admitted.

"You couldn't pick it up?" Daryl asked.

"Well-I dropped it in a drain." T-Dog elaborated and it was like a punch to the stomach to Daryl who simply lowered his head.

"If it's supposed to make me feel better, it don't." Daryl growled.

"Well maybe this will. Before we left I placed a chain on the door so that the geeks wouldn't get to him. I put a padlock on it." T-Dog added.

"It's gotta count for something." I said as Daryl wiped a bead of sweat from his eye.

"To hell with all y'all. Just tell me where he is s'os I can go get him." Daryl said angrily.

"He'll show you." Lori spoke off from the side. "Isn't that right?" She finished.

"I'm going back." I declared and wasn't surprised to see the rest of the camp was not thrilled.

It took me ten minutes to get to my tent and change clothes. I walked out as I was buttoning up my shirt when I saw Shane standing outside and waiting for me.

"So that's it huh? You're just going to walk off? Just saying, to hell with everybody else?" Shane asked.

"I'm not saying that to anybody. Not to you; least of all to Lori." I said as I finished buttoning my shirt.

"Tell her that?" Shane nearly whispered and I turned to look at him.

"She knows." I said not bothering to hide my frustration before turning and walking away once more.

"Well-I don't. So could you just throw me a bone here man? Could you just tell me why? Why would you risk your life for a douche bag like Merle Dixon?" Shane asked as he followed me.

"Hey, choose your words carefully." Daryl warned.

"No. I did. Douche bag's what I meant. Merle Dixon. The guy wouldn't give you a glass of water if you were dying of thirst." Shane responded as he placed his hands on his hips.

"What he would or wouldn't do doesn't interest me. I—I can't let a man die of thirst. Me. Thirst and exposure. We left him like an animal caught in a trap. That's no way for anything to die let alone a human being." I finished and once more turned around and walked away.

"So you and Daryl. That's your big plan?" Lori asked as I stopped in front of Glenn.

"Oh…come on." Glenn shook his head.

"You know the way. You've been there before. In and out, no problem. You said so before. It's not fair of me to ask, I know that but I'd feel a lot better with you along. I know she would too." I said feeling slightly guilty for using Lori like that.

"Now that's just great. Now you're going to risk three men, huh?" Shane asked with contempt.

"Four." T-Dog said getting a scoff from Daryl.

"My day just keeps getting better and better." Daryl remarked.

"You see anyone else stepping up to save your brother's cracker ass?" T-Dog asked.

"Why you?" Daryl asked back.

"You wouldn't begin to understand. You don't speak my language." T-Dog retorted.

"That's four." Dale said.

"It's not just four. You are putting every single one of us at risk. Just know that Rick. Come on. You saw that walker. It was here. It was in camp. They're moving out of the cities. We need every able body we got. We need them here. We need them to protect camp." Shane declared.

"It seems that what you really need here, are more guns." I replied.

"Right…the guns." Glenn whispered and both Shane and I turned toward him.

"Wait. What guns?" Shane asked.

"Seven shotguns. Two high powered rifles and a dozen handguns." I listed.

"Hey Rick! One of those shotguns are mine." Isaac called out.

"Shut up!" Shane yelled.

"I cleared out the cage back at the station before I left. I dropped the bag in Atlanta when I got swarmed." I explained.

"We! Rick! We got swarmed!" Isaac shouted out once more.

"I said shut up before I put my boot in your mouth." Shane warned angrily.

"It's just sitting there on the street, waiting to be picked up." I finally finished.

"Ammo?" Shane asked.

"Seven hundred rounds assorted." I answered seeing that I was winning over Shane.

"You went through hell to find us. You just got here and you're going to turn around and leave?" Lori asked.

"Dad…I don't want you to go." Carl added.

"To hell with the guns. Shane is right. Merle Dixon? He's not worth one of your lives. Even with the guns thrown in. Tell me. Make me understand." Lori begged as she stood up.

"I owe a debt to a man. A man and his little boy. If he hadn't taken Isaac and I in, back in King's Crossing, I'd have died. They said they would follow me to Atlanta. They'll walk into the same trap I did if I don't warn them." Rick explained.

"What's stopping you?" Lori asked.

"The radio was in the bag I dropped. He's got the other one. Our plan was to connect when they got closer." I explained.

"These our walkies?" Shane asked as he rubbed his chin.

"Yeah." I sighed.

"So use the C.B. What's wrong with that?" Andrea asked.

"The C.B's fine. It's the walkies that suck to crap. Date back to the 70's, don't match any other bandwidth. Not even the scanners in our cars." Shane admitted.

"I need that bag." I said to Lori and looked down to Carl who nodded in acceptance.

With that we began getting ready. After a few questions I approached Dale and Jim who was working on his R.V.

"Rumor has it that you have bolt cutters." I said as I approached.

"Maybe." Dale responded.

"When we get to the roof we'll need to cut that chain and the handcuffs." T-Dog explained.

"I never liked lending tools. The last time I did-and yes I am talking about you. Let's just say your bag of guns weren't the only bag that was dropped that day. My tools got left behind with Merle." Dale explained.

"We'll bring your tools back too. Think of the bolt cutter…as an investment." I implored.

"Sounds like more of a gamble." Dale grumbled as walked to his tool kit and pulled out a bolt cutter before pausing.

"What do I get in return?" Dale asked.

"What do you want?" I asked somewhat cautiously.

"How about one of those guns you bring back? My pick." Dale stated.

"Done." I agreed before Jim cleared his throat.

"Dale lets…sweeten the deal a bit. Now that cube van of yours…"Jim paused thinking.

"What about it?" I asked.

"The R.V's radiator hose is shot. That's a problem if we want to get somewhere and we want to get far and the hose on that van is just about the perfect match. Well, enough that I can make it fit." Jim finished.

"I tell you what. We get back you can strip that van to bare metal." I answered and Dale happily handed me his bolt cutters which I passed to T-Dog as we turned to get to the van.

"Hey Rick. Got any rounds for that Python?" Shane asked as he brought over a duffle bag.

"No." I answered honestly.

"Last time we were at the gun range, I'm sure I wound up with a few loose rounds of yours." Shane said as he opened the duffle bag and started rooting around in it.

"You and that bag, like the bottom of an old ladies purse." I tried to joke.

"I hate that you're doing this man. I think that it's foolish and reckless, but if you're going to go you're taking these bullets" Shane ordered.

"I'm not sure I want to be taking shots in the city. Not after what happened last time." I admitted.

"That's up to you. Well…four men. Four rounds. What are the odds huh? Well let's just hope that uh-let's just hope four is your lucky number. Okay?" Shane asked as he handed the four bullets to me.

"Alright." I whispered as I thumbed the bullets in my hand.

"What is it?" Shane asked sensing something was bugging me.

"Listen. You said you needed all the able bodied you can to protect camp." I stated and looked at Isaac.

"Oh no. No. No. No. After what he did?" Shane asked throwing a carless gesture at Isaac.

"Shane, ever since I woke up I've found myself in a strange world. I had to adapt. We have to adapt. Now you and I both know he's only done what we've talked about in our squad car for years." I argued.

"In the squad car Rick. It was all talk. Let me try it like this. Would you trust him around your wife? Around your son?" Shane asked as he zipped up the duffle bag.

"In a world like this Shane. I have to. Do I like it? No. But I don't have a choice. We both need him to fight. He's good at it. If it bothers you having him close to the camp like that just have him stay in the forest as an early warning." I said holding my ground.

"Fine. But I'll be keeping a close eye on him. And if he makes any attempt I'll stop him. Even if that means killing him." Shane promised before walking away.

"That's all I ask for." I called out before jumping into the van.

 _Was this the right thing to do?_

Shane watched the van drive around the bend and with a disgusted grunt turned around and walked back into camp.

"Hey, aren't you going to let me go?" Isaac asked clearly proving he heard Rick and Shane's discussion.

"For once! Will you please just listen to me and shut up." Shane said dismissively as he walked past Isaac.

"Asshole." Isaac frowned before continuing his work.

Slowly he began sawing through the trunk of the tree with his handcuffs. While the repetitive motion had caused the metal to bite into his wrists and rub them raw his effort was rewarded with a large wooden splinter. With a grunt and a snap that he hoped wasn't too loud he broke it off.

"Are you really my brother?" Isaac looked up to see Sophia who was sitting down in front of him.

"I am." Isaac said after a brief pause.

"Thank you." Sophia said quickly before getting up and running off.

"You're welcome kid." Isaac whispered softly as he pressed the wooden splinter against the rope and began sawing through it.

*****The Next Day*****

"Jim. Take some water." Shane said as he dunked a tin cup into a bucket.

"Alright." Jim said meekly.

"Here you go bud." Shane raised the cup to his lips and Jim gratefully drank the contents.

"Hey you think I can get some of that?" I asked and Shane's shoulders seemed to drop as he remembered I was there.

Over the course of the last couple of hours I had been discovered to have been cutting at the rope and to have rubbed my wrist raw. Naturally there were screams and shouts but I was bandaged up and put to work on keeping watch. Just like Rick had suggested. I was given no weapons but was supplied with a flashlight. Still I had been making makeshift weapons for the better part of the morning and hidden them at a variety of locations.

"Here." Shane kicked the bucket toward me before turning his attention back on Jim who was tied against a tree.

"How long are you going to keep me like this?" Jim asked.

"Well, yeah. Till I don't think you are a danger to yourself or others." Shane said sadly.

"Sorry if I scared your boy or little girl." Jim called out to Lori and Carol who were seated with Sophia and Carl just a few yards away.

"You had sunstroke. Nobody's blaming you." Lori called out although her tone betrayed how she really felt.

"You're not scared now are you?" Jim asked trying to put a joking tone in his voice.

"No sir." Sophia whispered dutifully.

"Your mom is right. Sun just cooked my head is all." Jim explained.

"Jim…do you know why you were digging? Can you say?" Dale asked as he walked up to us.

"I—had a reason….I don't remember. Something I dreamt last night." Jim admitted before looking at Carl.

"Your dad was in it. You were too. You were worried about him. Can't remember the rest. Are you worried about your dad?" Jim asked.

"They're not back yet." Carl said as he shook his head.

"You dad is a police officer. He helps people. He probably just came across a few people that just needed help. That's all. That man, he's tough as nails. I don't know him that well but, I could see it in him." Jim said reassuringly.

"You're not wrong." I said as I picked up the bucket and handed it to Shane.

"If anyone could come back from Atlanta it'd be Rick and his crew." Shane admitted.

"There ain't nothing that could stop him from coming back to you and your mom. I promise you that." Jim said firmly.

"Alright. Who wants to help me clean some fish?" Shane asked to which an eager Carl and Sophia quickly leapt from their chairs and went to join Shane.

"Carol could you keep an eye on them?" Lori asked and Carol with a nod followed after them.

After a few seconds Lori seemed like she wanted to approach Jim but with my presence she simply stood up before walking into camp.

"Isaac." Jim motioned for me to kneel next to him and I did.

"This camp is in trouble. Keep a close watch. I know what you did to Jacob was right. I know. You were right. They don't know it yet but they will. You're a true survivor. Don't let them die." Jim begged and I nodded.

"I'll keep them safe." I promised and Jim seemed content with that before he turned his sights toward the forest.

With nothing else to discuss I walked back into the forest and began preparing for something. I may not have been a religious man but some signs you just couldn't ignore. I quickly began snapping branches and setting them up at knee level. After that was done I began to work on a makeshift stone ax. The project carried well throughout the day and by the time I was finally done prepping for whatever may come the sun had fallen and everyone was eating fish that were caught early on in the day. I denied any food and sent Morales back to camp as I continued my watch. Nobody else had noticed it but the animals and insects that moved in the night were nowhere to be seen. The air was silent. Something was coming. I turned on my flashlight and found myself frozen.

"Fuck me." I gasped as a group of fifty walker's made their way up toward the camp.

I watched as a few fell into some traps I had lying around but most simply walked over their fallen walkers. Suddenly there were shrieks and screams coming from the camp. Another group of walkers' maybe. I found my feet wanting to run back to camp but what would that do but allow this next wave of walkers to walk through whoever survived. I heard a shotgun being fired off and hoped that Shane could and everyone else could protect themselves. I raised my makeshift ax and brought the stone end onto the head of the closest walker.

 _They'll have to make do._

I roared at the walkers to keep their attention on me as I backed up the hill I was on. I couldn't let them surround me. As I retreated I kept swinging my ax and killing walkers that came into my killzone. Eventually I found myself with my back against a cliff face. My lungs gasped for air and my entire body ached but I had whittled the numbers down to twenty walkers. Suddenly I heard numerous gun shots emit from the camp.

 _Rick's come back_.

Still even with that small hope I saw many of the furthest walker's begin to move toward the camp. I quickly slammed my ax into the cliff wall to draw their attention before slamming the ax head into another walker's skull. To my anger the shaft of the ax broke into two and I found myself with half a wooden branch and two sticks I had sharpened just in case I had lost my ax.

"I'm not dying here!" I screamed as I bent low and scooped up a rock and slammed it repeatedly into a walker's face.

I quickly moved on to the next one and used the shattered wooden branch to stab a walker through the eye. As it fell down I lost my hold on it and the body rolled down the hill. With nothing left I pulled out my two makeshift shivs and threw myself into the hoard. I don't know how long I fought but as I finally slammed the last walker's head into a tree I paused and waited for any other signs of walkers. Noting that there were none I fell to the ground and laid panting and trying to keep myself from pass out. I was covered in foul smelling blood and sweating but I couldn't stop myself from falling asleep.

*****The Next Day*****

The first sense that came back was my sense of smell. The scent of rot permeated the air. As I opened my eyes I saw multitude of walkers stepping around me. Occasionally one would misstep and fall taking a few with it down the hillside but as I sat up I found myself in a swarm a hundred deep. The only saving grace I had was the fact that I was covered with blood and gore from the walkers I had killed in the night.

Carefully I got up and began making my way through the herd toward my original lookout point. I felt immeasurably better as soon as I got my hands on the makeshift rock head hammers I had stashed at the base of the tree. I scooped up a rock and threw it as far as I could. The sharp crack off the trunk of a tree downhill grabbed the attention of a few walkers. Their moans attracted more and eventually the ones closest to me began going down the hill. With that taken care of I made my way back to camp. Although as I finally broke free of the forest I found nothing left but a pile of burnt bodies and a lot more graves.

I carefully scanned the etched wooden crosses and sighed. Although the losses were heavy at least Sophia and Carol hadn't been among those lost. After doing so I carefully looked over the camp. Anything that had use was gone. All that was left was a shot up C.B radio, some garbage, and the leftovers of the mustang.

 _No sign of my weapons, my backpack, or my tool belt. Well fuck it._

I quickly walked over to the mustang and opened the driver's side door. I pulled a small lever with the trunk icon and smiled slightly as I heard the trunk opened. I walked around the car and pulled the trunk up. I grabbed the tire iron that Dale or Jim simply left and I tucked it into one of the belt loops on my pants. I looked up at the sky and held up my hand and I sighed as my other hand fingered the tire iron. With little else to do I began following the set of tire tracks leading down and away from the quarry.

I followed the path to where it met actual pavement and paused. There were two sets of tire marks now. One heading toward Atlanta and the other away from it. I looked from side to side and sighed.

"Rick, would you really take your group to the C.D.C or would you be smart and try and find somewhere else to go?" I asked aloud before sighing and taking a step toward Atlanta.

It took two hours but my first sign of being on the right trail was Jim. He sat against a tree. As I approached his head lolled up and he rasped as he stood up. I was surprised that Jim who had turned into one of them could sense me before I noticed that the gore and blood had dried. The scent wasn't lingering on me anymore. Jim got to his feet and began walking toward me. I held up the stone hammer and slammed it into his temple. Jim fell onto the pavement and blood quickly pooled around his head. I fell to one knee and began to slam the hammer repeatedly into Jim's skull until it was nothing but thick goopy mixture. Carefully I scooped up the mashed bits of skull, brains, and blood and wiped it over my shirt and pants. With that messy business out of the way I stood up and continued walking. Night was coming and I wasn't even halfway to Atlanta. I had to reach the outskirts by the end of the night for shelter.

*****C.D.C*****

The room was full of laughter and joy for the first time since before the initial outbreak. Safely inside the armored walls of the C.D.C Rick's group was drinking wine and eating their fill with their savior, Dr. Edwin Jenner. Carl was trying for the first time a sip of wine only to groan in disgust much to the amusement of the adults around the table, even the somewhat closed off Daryl leaned back and let out a bark of laughter before standing up and challenging Glenn to a drinking contest. Overall it was a pleasant evening and a welcome break from the harsh world outside of the C.D.C walls.

"So when are you going to tell us what the hell really happened here Doc?" Shane asked completely ruining the celebratory mood and sending the room into silence.

"All the…other doctors that were supposed to be searching for the cure. That are supposed to have figured out what happened. Where are they?" Shane asked as he fingered his glass.

"We're celebrating, Shane. Don't need to do this now." Rick said trying to build momentum to recreate the atmosphere.

"Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here right? This was your move—supposed to find all the answers; instead we found him. One man. Why?" Shane asked as he pointed at Jenner with his thumb.

"Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left, went off to be with their families. And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun the rest bolted." Jenner explained.

"Every last one?" Shane asked as he leaned back in his chair.

"No. Many couldn't face walking out that door. They…opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time." Jenner finished and more than one of the group picked up their glasses and drank a little more than a sip of wine.

"You didn't leave. Why?" Andrea asked.

"I just kept working. Hoping. To do some good." Jenner answered and the room fell silent for a few seconds.

"Dude. You are such a buzzkill, man." Glenn addressed Shane in a depressed tone.

"Since…Daryl?" Carol asked making Daryl pause mid sip of the wine bottle in his hand before he put it down.

"What?" He asked.

"How'd you know my son? You recognized him when you got back. But." Carol broke off unsure how she wanted to continue her line of questioning.

The room was still quiet and Daryl seemed like he was conflicted about something before he sighed and took a mouthful of wine.

"Yeah. I knew your son. It's no surprise I was a troublemaker. Got myself locked up in juvie a couple times. I was 18, about to be let out, when your boy Isaac first stepped foot inside. I thought he was nothing. He wasn't nothing. He kicked my ass, scrawny as he was. He looked different when I saw him. But I remembered his voice and when I looked at him I remember those eyes. Like a wolf, just waiting." Daryl finished and drank from his bottle once more.

"Do you think he's still alive dad?" Carl asked.

"Just finish eating Carl." Rick said and the rest of the group ate their meals in silence for the next ten minutes.

"Alright. How about I show you where you'll all be sleeping tonight." Jenner stated as the group tossed their plates and utensil in grey trays.

*****The Next Day*****

The blast shook the ground beneath my feet even three miles away. I was glad I had taken the aviators off some dead cop otherwise the fireball would have left me blinded for a long time. Still I could only marvel at the destruction of what I could only assume was the C.D.C.

"What the hell did you do this time Rick?" I asked the raging inferno.

* * *

Well that's the end of the second chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it.


	3. For Those We Remember

For Those We Remember

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Author's Note: Hello every one! I've gotten some really positive feedback from the last two chapters. So I'm glad to put out this next chapter. Hope you all enjoy it.

"Talking"

 _Thoughts_

* * *

*****Seven Months Earlier*****

I avoided looking at the flames as I put my scope on the group of men. I was at least fifty feet away in between the trees and hidden under a grey sheet. I monitored my breathing carefully as my finger squeezed the trigger. As always the shot came as a shock to me as my rifle softly gasped and the bullet found its mark. I watched and heard as one of the men shout in pain as he collapsed onto the ground and grabbed at his knee. The other men paused in their actions as they looked at their downed companion. One moved to help and I placed my scope on him and fired, the bullet caught him in the stomach. The rest panicked as they ran for their vehicles and I managed to pick off three more men before the rest jumped into two cars and sped away leaving a lone car in a field full of wounded men.

I stepped out of the tree line and began walking toward the downed men. They screamed and groaned in pain as most of them were still alive. I ignored them as I stopped at the feet of two girls. Both had been gagged and been stripped naked, their abused bodies laid out bare amongst the night sky. One of them was older, perhaps sixteen and the other was a girl of ten. The older girl was in a bad way. One of her legs was bent wrong and she was covered in blood, semen, and piss. Both girls were passed out so I took out my pistol and shot the older girl first. The silencer kept the gunshot to a whisper. I turned and trained the pistol on the younger girl and paused as her one good eye looked at me.

 _Come on. Just end it._

Without knowing why I holstered my handgun and walked toward the side of the girl and sat next to her unworried about the filth on the ground. With care I lifted her head and placed it on my lap and untied the gag. The corners of her mouth were scabbed over and rubbed raw, evidence of her attempts to either scream or bite through the leather belt. She rasped something out and I nodded. With care I opened my canteen and poured some water into her open mouth and she swallowed gratefully.

 _Coward._

"I knew—you'd come for us. Oh dad." She whispered in a broken voice as tears came to her eyes but refused to fall.

 _You're not her father._

"It's alright love. I'm here." I said as I brushed my fingers through her hair.

 _No you're not._

"Are the bad men gone?" She asked.

 _Maybe in ten minutes._

"All gone." I promised and her breathing became unsteady.

"I didn't cry. Like you told me…I'm a big girl now, right? I'm a big girl." She repeated as she let out a chocked out sob.

 _She cried. You know she did. Stop it. Kill her. End her._

"I know you are. You are such a big girl. You are my special girl. I'm so proud of you." I whispered to her reassuringly.

 _Proud? I can taste the bile on the back of your tongue. Her weakness is sickening._

"Lindsey…is she okay?" The girl asked.

 _She's dead. You killed her._

"She's sleeping now. I'll have to fix her leg and she needs her strength before I can do that." I lied as the girl nodded.

 _Liar._

"Dad…dad I hurt." She whimpered.

 _The weak will never inherit the Earth._

"I know. I know baby girl. Just close your eyes and try to sleep. It'll be better in the morning. I'll keep you safe. No one is going to harm you anymore. I promise." I watched as she closed her eyes obediently.

 _Sheep. They are all sheep. Do what you do as a wolf._

With practiced ease I pulled out my pistol and held it half an inch away from her head and yet I hesitated.

 _What are you doing?_

"I don't want to." I whispered and almost dropped my gun, I was so unused to my voice.

"Daddy?" The girl asked.

 _It doesn't matter. You'll do it._

I squeezed the trigger and watched as her face jerked away and saw the blood, bone, and brains sprinkle along the grass. In the fire light it looked black. Black as my heart, black as my soul, black as the rot in my brain. I laid the girl's head down and saw a few of the men had grown still. I pulled out a screwdriver and stabbed each of them in the head. As I finished the last of them off I heard the tell-tale rasping of a walker. I turned and saw it was the older sister, Lindsey, who was pushing herself onto her feet only to fall almost comically as her broken leg could not sustain her weight.

"I missed the brain." I said numbly as I watched Lindsey try to stand.

 _You said you'd help her. Help her._

I followed the voice's direction and walked over to the down sister. With little thought and a lot of muscle memory I knelt next to her and stabbed the screwdriver into her eye finally giving her the rest she deserve. I couldn't bring myself to stand and I sat on my ass just looking at the corpses in the fire light. With nothing left to do I rubbed my eyes with the back of my wrists.

 _Take your time boy._

"Fuck you." I whispered and brushed the phantom of my father away with my mind.

I pushed my emotions to the back of my chest. I stood up and quickly searched the bodies finding a few lighters, some ammo, and taking what I could. I piled everything I found in the trunk of the car that was left behind from my attack. With nothing else to loot I turned back to the field and spat on the ground.

"Let the dead have this place." I whispered and ducked inside the car.

I put on the seat belt and put the keys into the ignition. Within seconds I was on a road leading nowhere. I didn't look back.

*****Present Day*****

I gasped as I sat up and raised my pistol to the door way. I tried to focus my breathing and slow my heart rate with little success. Seeing no immediate danger I pressed the length of the barrel against my temple which was dripping with sweat. The coolness of the metal grounded me and I could feel my lungs finally listen to my orders and I breathed in slowly and exhaled. My heartbeat slowed soon after and I remembered where I was.

I was in a small family feed store. The entrances had all be boarded up and I had slept on a floor covered in hay. I looked up at the wall and counted the lines I had etched there with a knife.

 _Two hundred and twenty six days. Nearly a year since I've seen anyone from my group. Probably dead._

"I can't think like that." I reassured myself as I pulled my backpack toward me and pulled out a map from the side pocket.

 _I tracked them from the C.D.C to the highway. Then I had to run to avoid that huge pack of walkers. That costed me. Maybe cost me too much. By the time I had out ran the herd, ran into those fucking animals, and managed to pick up the scent, all that was left was a burnt down barn, death and walkers._

I folded the map carefully despite the frustration that rose in my chest. I replaced the map and shoved my hand into the bag before pulling out a glass mason jar pulled of preserved peaches.

 _Got to love the country._

I carefully opened the glass jar and was about to dig in when I heard the sound of a car outside. Without a sound I closed the jar and crept toward the boarded up windows. I peeked through but it seemed like the car had already taken a turn and headed back toward a town I had just cleared out. Without thinking I grabbed my bag and quietly slipped out.

 _Hopefully no one stumbles across this place._

I thought as I slipped out and followed the direction the car had been heading in.

*****An Hour Later*****

"There's nothing in there. God." Maggie sighed morosely as she and Glenn exited the abandoned food store.

"It looks like someone got here before us. Recently too." Glenn spoke cautiously as he scanned the small town.

"How do you know?" Maggie asked as she too felt for her pistol.

"There's dust all over the shelves but anything that was still in there and taken has left a clean spot. A clean spot in the apocalypse? I don't trust it." Glenn said assuredly.

"We need to get back from the prison. Tell them that there might be other people around here." Maggie said as she placed her hands on her hips.

"It's going to be a long ride back. I'm supposed to be better at this. I'm supposed to find things." Glenn said more so to himself than anyone.

"Hey, hey. It's not your fault. Don't beat yourself up too much. They'll understand. At least you got that one thing right?" Maggie asked and Glenn sighed as he picked the only thing that was in his shopping basket.

"Yeah. Rick will be happy I brought this back." Glenn eyed the can of baby formula.

"And where is it you good people call it home!" The raspy voice called out as the familiar sound of a hammer cocking back froze both Glenn and Maggie before they pulled their guns and turned toward their aggressor.

"Merle?" Glenn asked in disbelief.

In response to their reveal Merle paused before shaking his head in disbelief. A guffaw escaped his body as he lowered his pistol to the ground and raised one hand and the other some sort of metal protective cap with a blade attached to it.

"Wow." Merle exclaimed as he took a few steps forward.

"Hey! Back the hell up!" Maggie threatened as she stepped forward with her pistol in front.

"Okay, okay, honey. Jesus." Merle said as he took a few steps forward.

"You made it." Glenn said although his tone could be interpreted as disappointment and not relief.

"Can you tell me? Is my brother alive?" Merle asked as he wiped some of the blood away from his nose.

"Yeah." Glenn answered bluntly and Merle seemingly nearly folded in on himself.

"Hey, you uh, take me to him and I'll call it even on everything that happened up there in Atlanta. No hard feelings huh?" Merle offered before he noticed Glenn eye his right arm nervously.

"Oh this? I found myself in a medical supply warehouse and fixed this up myself. Pretty cool huh?" Merle asked as he gently moved his right arm around.

"We'll tell Daryl you're here and he'll come out here to meet you." Glenn finally said.

"Woah. Hold up now, hold up." Merle took a few more steps forward and only stopped when Glenn cocked back the hammer.

"Listen, the fact that we found each other in itself is a miracle. Come on now. You can trust me." Merle pleaded.

"You trust us. You stay here." Glenn threatened.

"No!" Merle yelled out as he shot sending Glenn for cover as he tackled Maggie and grabbed her from behind.

A second later Glenn ran from around their car and pointed his gun at Merle who had his knife at her throat and a gun pointed at him.

"Hold up buddy! Hold up." Merle warned.

"Let go of her! Let go of her now!" Glenn yelled as his eyes went wild looking for any way to turn the tables.

"Put the gun in the car right now. Put it in the car now son." Merle ordered and hesitantly Glenn dropped the gun in through the broken window.

"There we go. Now we're going to go for a little drive." Merle said.

"We're not going back to our camp." Glenn said shaking his head.

"No. We're going someplace else. Get in the car Glenn! You're driving." Merle ordered and despite himself Glenn walked around the car and got into the passenger seat.

Merle quickly dragged Maggie to her feet and pushed her into the back seat and then himself, all the while his gun was trained on the side of Maggie's head.

"Turn the car around and keep driving." Merle ordered and Glenn carefully turned the car and put it back on the main road.

Unbeknownst to them the drama had unfolded with one audience member in attendance. Michonne carefully came out from around the car she had been hiding behind. With a few pained footsteps accompanied with some grunts she walked over to the shopping basket with the can of powdered formula still in it. She stooped to grab it and as she stood up she felt a barrel tap against the back of her head before hearing footsteps take four steps back. Out of range for her katana even at full strength.

"You're bleeding badly from your leg. There's no way to try and get me with your sword. Just turn around slowly." A male's voice ordered and despite her urge to disobey she found her body moving without her consent.

When she turned around she saw a young man dressed in army fatigues. A hunting rifle was hanging from his back and it looked to be fitted with a makeshift silencer same as his pistol which was currently pointed at her. He was had a bandolier draped across his chest. One with a multitude of bullets for his hunting rifle and a gun belt with magazines securely lined on his waist. Whoever this man was, he was dangerous, only further proven as she looked into his eyes. They cut deeply into her and she felt that any threatening move would result in him shooting her with no remorse while doing so. Still she couldn't die here. She had to save Andrea.

"What do you want?" She asked.

"I need to know what you saw. I heard the name Glenn. I might know him." The man explained.

"Might?" Michonne hissed out.

"We've been separated. It's been nearly a year. My family might still be with his group. Now either I shoot you now and try to find my own way or you tell me what you know and I'll clean your wound and stitch you up. Now what's it going to be?" The man asked and Michonne paused carefully weighing her options.

"The man. Merle. He showed up and took your friends." Michonne answered and she almost let out a sigh of relief as the man across from her lowered his gun.

"Anything else?" The man asked.

"Glenn. The Asian kid. He said they had to go back to the prison." Michonne gave up without a fight.

"Prison…oh Rick. You smart some of a bitch. Fuck I knew I should have checked there." The man said as he holstered his gun and smiled at her.

"Let's go inside the supermarket and I'll take a look at your leg. I'm Isaac." Isaac said as he introduced himself only to pause as Michonne frowned at him.

"Hey, it's not like that. Trust me. I'm not an **animal**. I'm not one of **them**." Isaac said.

Maybe it was the way he said animal or protested being one of them but Michonne found herself slightly trusting the young man.

"You touch anywhere you're not supposed to and I'll cut your head off." She threatened and Isaac simply smiled and nodded.

With that they both went into the small food store and shut the security gate behind him. Michonne leaned against an abandoned registered as Isaac set up a small camping light. The natural sunlight came in through the windows but direct light made visibility better in the dimly lit store.

"I'm going to tie the belt around your thigh to slow the bleeding while I clean the wound. Is that alright?" Isaac asked and Michonne nodded as she grabbed the handle of her sword.

With practiced ease Isaac looped the belt around her thigh and tightened it almost painfully so causing Michonne's legs to tremble as she let out a pained grunt. With that taken care of Isaac pulled out a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and several cotton balls.

"This may hurt." Isaac warned before dabbing the treated cotton ball onto her wound.

"This is a gunshot wound. A graze. We're you running from somewhere or from someone?" Isaac asked and Michonne found herself surprised by how accurate his question was.

"A place called Woodbury and someone." Michonne grunted out.

"Huh. Someone's popular." Isaac poorly teased before coughing, half of it was in embarrassment and half of it was in the simple overuse of his voice.

"Sorry. I haven't talked to many people in a long time." Isaac admitted as he pulled back and dropped the third cotton ball finally cleaning the wound on Michonne's leg to his satisfaction.

"Me neither." Michonne admitted as she looked on in dread as Isaac pulled out a needle, thread and a lighter.

"This is going to hurt. Here. Bite on this." Isaac offered a roll of cloth which Michonne took and placed in her mouth as Isaac finished coating the needle in flame.

*****Three Hours Later*****

Rick felt the comforting weight of his daughter in his arms and smiled as he looked at Carl.

"She looks like you." Rick said and Carl chuckled slightly with his dad.

Rick looked up at his place, their place, with renewed hope. The events of the last couple of hours seemed to melt away as he glanced at the reestablished safe zone of the prison. It had been a risk coming here. While it had cost Herschel a leg, T-Dog his life, and his wife her's, he couldn't imagine being on the outside of the fences any longer than they had. The place he had once sent criminals had now become a new home for his family, for his group, still a lingering doubt flickered through his mind but he quickly banished it away. Something though caught his eye as he looked at the fence. Carefully he handed Carl his sister.

"Hey just—you got her." Rick said trying to find an explanation for what he was seeing.

"Yeah." Carl said.

"Right. Okay." Rick said as he walked down the gravel road.

Rick watched as a black woman and a familiar looking man took down the last four walkers along the outer gates of the prison. Michonne simply grabbed the fence nearly collapsing as the man reached out and helped to steady her. Rick stared across the empty space and saw that familiar grin. Like a wolf.

"Hey Rick, how about you let us inside." Isaac said, his grin getting wider as he raised his hand and slammed a can of baby formula against the chain link fence.

*****Ten Minutes Later*****

"I have a million questions." Rick admitted as he sat across from Isaac.

"I would too." Isaac said as he drank from his canteen.

"How'd you survive the attack on the camp? How'd you survive by yourself for the last year? How—how'd you find us?" Rick asked.

"I was down the hill from the camp. That night I was by myself with fifty walkers heading straight for you all. I had to lead them away. Had to take them out or they would have ran straight into the camp and killed everyone there. I killed them all but I was too tired to get back. I fell asleep. When I woke up and made my way back to the camp everyone was gone. I tracked you. To Atlanta. I watched as the C.D.C blew up. When I got to what was left all there was, was a few skid marks and a whole city's worth of walkers. So…I booked it out of there. Followed the roads I thought you all would take. I was tracking you along the interstate when a huge herd of walkers came at me. I had to run. To evade the dead…and the living." Isaac answered truthfully.

"I saw it…what you were talking about. That night that you killed Jacob." Rick said as he looked down.

"Animals." Isaac remarked with some bite and Rick nodded.

"Animals...we were hold up at a farm. One night a herd came through. Took it all apart." Rick said.

"Is that where you found them?" Isaac asked looking at the one legged old man and a blonde woman who were hovering over Michonne's leg and examining Isaac's handy work.

"Yeah. They had managed to avoid most of it. There were more but, they didn't make it. We lost Shane…" Rick paused unsure how to continue.

"Are they both dead?" Isaac asked and Rick sighed heavily.

"Sophia…she got separated from the group on the highway. I tried everything to keep her safe and took care of the two walkers that chased her. I told her to keep the sun on her shoulder to head back. She never made it. We searched for a full month but found nothing but her doll. Daryl did his best. He didn't give up until we finally found Sophia. Herschel didn't know. He and his friend Otis rounded up the walkers and put them in their barn—Sophia was in that barn. A bite was on her shoulder. I had to put her down." Rick breathed in deeply to catch his breath all the while making sure to keep an eye on the possibly unstable man across from him.

"I should have been there but I can't change the past. Thank you for showing her mercy." Isaac spoke and Rick could tell by how emotionless Isaac's voice had gotten that the weight of the world was crushing Isaac.

"Your mother…we haven't found her yet. One of the surviving prisoners opened a gate and let the nearby walkers in. They stormed the prison and we lost T-Dog, and Lori. We just put them all down before you came here." Rick explained and Isaac nodded.

"Hey Rick—Isaac." Daryl exclaimed in shock.

"Daryl." Isaac stood up and extended a hand which Daryl numbly took.

"Thank you for trying to take care of my family…Sophia was my responsibility. My sister. Thank you…for not giving up on her when other's did." Isaac said with an air of seriousness that filled the room.

"I-I tried. But come on. You gotta see this. Rick, everyone." Daryl called out as he pulled back and began jogging back toward the cell block with Isaac quickly following behind.

Isaac stopped as Daryl gestured toward a cell. Isaac looked in and watch as his mother's worn out visage appeared from under the shadow of the bunk. Both Carol and Isaac looked at each other in surprise. Almost cautiously Isaac walked into the cell and kneeled down in front of his mother. In a move that surprised everyone; Isaac leaned his head onto his mother's lap and began to sob. Rick quickly pushed the group back to let Carol and Isaac have their moment. They deserved it.

Rick and the rest of the group quietly made their way back to the entrance of the cell block and saw Michonne calmly cleaning her katana from the gore from the walkers outside. Carl with his sister in his hand and Beth quietly went to one side of the room as Herschel and Rick approached the sword wielder.

"The wound on your leg is amateur work at best but it held. Did you do it yourself?" Herschel asked.

"It was Isaac. He found me and patched me up." Michonne said as she wiped her blade once more.

"Yeah. About that. Where did he find you?" Rick asked as he placed his hands on his hips.

"A small town a few miles south of here." Michonne said as she placed the katana in its sheath.

"The baby formula. Isaac had it but how did he know to bring it? We sent two of our own out there but they haven't shown up. I suspect you know." Rick said and Michonne sighed.

"There was an Asian kid. Glenn. A girl was with him too. Short hair. White. Young. Pretty." Michonne recalled.

"Maggie?" Herschel questioned.

"I don't know. They were taken." Michonne replied.

"Taken? By who?" Rick asked.

"By the same son of a bitch who shot me. There was a white guy but I didn't catch his name." Michonne answered vaguely.

"These are our people. We need to know. There must have been a reason you came here. After Isaac patched you up you could have gone your own way but you didn't. Now why did you show up here?" Rick asked with steel in his voice.

"There's a town. Woodbury. About seventy five survivors…I think they were taken there." Michonne stated with a tight grip on her sword.

"A whole town?" Rick asked somewhat surprised.

"Yeah. Run by this guy called the Governor. Pretty boy. Charming. Jim Jones type." Michonne described.

"This guy got muscle?" Daryl, who had kept quiet up till now, asked.

"Paramilitary wannabes. They have armed sentries on every wall. " Was her clipped response.

"You know a way in?" Rick asked.

"It's secure from walkers but…we could slip our way through." Michonne said thoughtfully.

"Rick." The voice of Isaac called out and everyone turned toward him.

The man looked like he had been through hell and back. His eyes were red from tears but his face was dry and he stood firmly.

"What?" Rick asked.

"You can't attack a nation like this." Isaac said as he strode forward.

"A nation ? It's barely a town." Daryl rebutted but Isaac shook his head.

"Maybe before the end of the world, but now? Seventy five people is a nation. Let's for the sake of argument say that a third of them are old or are kids. That puts at least fifty people that are combat ready or at least can point a gun and shoot. What are we? Just seven people without Glenn and Maggie? Isaac asked.

"Nine." A white man and a black man entered the room wearing prisoner uniforms and Isaac glanced at their uniforms but didn't say anything about them.

"Nine. But Herschel can't fight, Carol is too weak, Beth isn't a fighter and Carl isn't right for this type of attack. That just leaves six people against fifty men and women." Isaac stated and Rick grunted in anger.

"We sneak in at night. They'll have guards out but we can bypass them easily without making a sound. We don't kill but we will get our people back. No matter what." Rick argued.

"What happens when we get discovered?" Isaac asked.

"We'll shoot our way out." Daryl answered.

"And you'll start a war." Isaac said angrily.

"They started it when they took our people!" Rick yelled as he slammed a fist onto the metal table.

"No. It was one person. One guy. We can talk this out. Rick, this isn't the Road. We can't just rush in there and see what happens. At best we get out without a scratch with Maggie and Glenn but at worst, we'll all be killed. Then they'll come here and take this place. Is that what you want?" Isaac asked and Rick despite his anger cooled his head by taking a deep breath and sighing.

"So what's your suggestion?" Rick asked.

"We trade them for Glenn and Maggie." Isaac suggested.

"With what? We have no bullets, no food, we ain't got shit." Daryl stated.

"That's where you're wrong." Isaac said as he pulled a map from the side of his pack and laid it in front of Rick.

"I've scoured the surrounding twenty miles around here. I've taken things from crates of food to a rocket launcher and brought them here." Isaac pointed to just outside a tiny town.

"How are we going to transport it? We don't have a car." Rick said.

"I have a truck with a U-Haul container attached to it. I have food, medicine, ammo, knives, and guns. I also have it wired to some C-4 in case anyone tries to steal it." Isaac said proudly and the rest of the room seemed quite surprised at the revelation except Michonne who scoffed.

"Don't bother. The Governor will just kill you and take it. I've seen his handy work." Michonne whispered.

"What did you see?" Rick asked turning toward her.

"A military convoy. A surviving one. It had been attacked. Bullet holes and fresh blood. I could smell the gun powder on the dead bodies. Only one person has the fire power in this area to do that and that's the Governor and his people. They killed them all and took everything. That'll be you." Michonne said warningly.

"Fine. Then I'll go alone." Isaac said sounding resolute.

"You? Ha, what can a scrawny kid like you do?" The white prisoner asked.

"This." Without warning Isaac pulled a small wooden tube out of his pocket and showed it to the people in the room.

"What's that going to do?" Daryl asked.

Without saying anything Isaac pulled a string from the side and a small pop was heard coming from the wooden tube. Almost immediately the tube began gushing red smoke and quickly filled the area leading to the occupants panicking and yelling. Within seconds each one felt a slight pressure on their necks before they could fight back and after a minute the area was clear again with Isaac sitting calmly behind the white prisoner.

"What the hell was that?!" Rick asked.

"There's a mark on your neck." Herschel pointed out and Rick quickly touched his neck and pulled it away to see a red substance on it.

"It's lipstick. It's on all of your necks." Isaac called out as everyone watched as he fiddled with a cardboard knife.

Without a doubt each one touched their necks and looked at their fingers and were shocked that it came away with the same red lipstick.

"How? I didn't hear you at all." Daryl said as he rubbed the red off on a spare rag.

"I've been out there longer than you all have. By myself. You think the road changed you and it has. But not as much as it's changed me. I could have killed you all if I wanted to. Could have done it back at the camp ground. You think you and Shane got the best of me at the Camp?" Isaac asked as he tsked and sheathed his cardboard knife in its custom container.

"You let us." Rick stated somewhat surprised that he could only see that now.

"Of course. I let myself be taken down and handcuffed." Isaac admitted and once more everyone looked at Isaac unsure what to make of him.

"I say we let him go on his own." The black prisoner said with a tinge of fear and wonder in his tone.

"Yeah." Rick paused as he reevaluated Isaac.

"You can't be serious. One trick and that's all it takes for you?! I have someone I need to get out of there too." Michonne said fiercely.

"And who might that be?" Rick asked.

"A woman. I found her a few weeks before winter set in. I helped her survive. Her name is Andrea." Michonne said and paused as most of the men in the group paused at the name.

"Blonde hair? White? Kind of mouthy?" Isaac asked.

"Yeah." Michonne answered.

"Isaac will get her too then. She was part of our group before you found her." Daryl explained and Michonne was surprised that they knew her.

"Yeah…I guess. It'll be a pain in the ass. I'll need someone to be my getaway driver." Isaac stated.

"Getaway driver? I thought you could do this by yourself." Rick said.

"Well, I could if it was just one or two people but three? Nah. That's too much noise. I'll attract every walker in the area. Plus I don't know what kind of condition they're in. If what Michonne said is true I don't think it'll go well for Glenn and Maggie." Isaac said bringing into the open what everyone was trying not to think about.

"I'll go." Daryl and Michonne both volunteered.

"I'll take Daryl. But I will need at least one of two people to drive the truck back to the prison. Can't just leave all that hardware out for some lucky bastard now can I?" Isaac asked and Rick sighed.

"I'll go and I'll have Michonne watch my back." Rick said.

"Great. If things go to plan, I'll have everyone back before breakfast." Isaac clapped his hands happily but everyone watched as the grin of his revealed some teeth.

*****That Night*****

 _You dumb son of a bitch. You volunteered yourself for a suicide mission?_

The voice in my head asked but I ignored it as I slipped past the wall and the guards. Woodbury was nicely fortified against walkers but Michonne was right. The living could easily bypass it but that wouldn't be for long and not after tonight. I quickly ducked into an alley way as I spotted a light coming from the opposite direction of me.

 _Just turn back. No reason to die for these people._

I watched as a man came into view and I pulled out my knife and waited to make sure he was alone. The man shined the light into the alley but didn't see me behind the dumpster. With a shrug the man turned and I quickly stepped behind him and wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him into the alley with me.

"I won't hurt you if you don't struggle and be quiet. Answer my questions and I won't kill you." I whispered and pulled the knife I had on his throat slightly back when he stopped struggling.

"Who are you?" He whispered back.

"Just a concerned friend. See I heard your people caught two of my own. I want them back. Now I don't want to harm anyone if I can help it but I will if I need too. Starting with you. So tell me where Glenn and the girl are and we can let bygones be bygones." I stated.

"I know Merle came in with a car and two people in it. I didn't get a good look." The man spoke rapidly.

"Where did he take them?" I asked.

"I don't know. Just please don't kill me. I have a wife. A family." The man begged almost hysterically.

"Please. Please. Just let me go and I won't tell anyone-" I cut him off as I wrapped my right arm around his neck and grabbed my left bicep.

The man struggled and clawed at my protected forearms but I just leaned back and took away his leverage. After ten seconds he went limp and I placed him softly on the ground. He wasn't dead but he'd be out for a good stretch with one hell of a bruised throat.

 _So they're here. Maybe. But you still don't know where they are._

"He'll have them secluded. Somewhere far away from the average survivor. Somewhere only the top leaders and trusted members can go too." I whispered harshly out loud.

 _Oh Isaac. Starting to crack. Starting to show a little weakness._

I didn't bothering answering but I grabbed the man from under his armpits and drag him behind the dumpster. I contemplated throwing him in but that would make too much noise. I turned off the flashlight he had with him and pocketed it. It wouldn't be long before he would be missed. I had to hurry. I noticed a heavy pipe leading all the way to the top of a two story building and without a second thought wrapped my hands around it and began climbing. It didn't take long before I reached the roof and pulled myself onto it. I quickly took a survey of the land and spotted a group of three men walk out of building. A tall handsome man and two tough looking bastards were following him.

 _Come oooooon. Let's just go wild. Fuck subtly. Let's just shoot up the place and burn it._

"Shut up." I growled out before standing up as the three men quickly moved into a nearby building.

The great thing about Woodbury was that the buildings were close together. I deftly jumped from rooftop to another and although I had a few close calls I quickly found myself on the rooftop of the building the three men went into. I leaned over the edge careful not to be to visible as I peeked into the window from above

"-done something that you told me couldn't be done." The handsome man spoke.

"It couldn't have." One of the tougher men rebuked.

"They did it. Your brother might be out there right now searching for them. Blood is blood right? Makes me wonder where your loyalties lie." The handsome man said candidly.

"Here." The man said and I figured that this one was Merle, Daryl's brother.

"I want you two to get a small group together and scout this prison." The handsome man, I assumed to be the Governor, ordered and the other tough guy nodded.

"You got it." With that both him and a bookish man walked out of the room leaving the Governor and Merle alone.

The Governor looked out the window and I pulled myself up just in time to avoid his gaze. I heard the ruffling of blinds before The Governor sighed.

"Andrea's coming back. Get out of here. We'll talk after I get rid of her." He said and I heard Merle leave the room and another lighter pair of footsteps enter.

"You kept your promise. You came back." I heard the Governor say.

"I promised." Andrea's voice was soft like someone talking to a lover.

I didn't bother to stay longer. Soon The Governor would kill Maggie and Glenn. I had to get them out before that happens. As quietly as I could I jumped back over the rooftops over to where a warehouse looking building was. I quickly found the nearest drain pipe and climbed down off of it. I looked both up and down the alley and saw nothing. With silent footsteps I walked toward a small stair way which led to the basement of the building. The same basement that the Governor, Merle, and that other guy came out of.

I quickly descended the stairs and frowned as I spotted a five dollar lock on the door. Still it was to be expected and I came prepared. I quickly pulled my backpack over my shoulders and unzipped it. I took out a small bolt cutter and squeezed it tightly over the metal band. With some effort I snipped it and took off the lock. With that out of the way I returned the bolt cutter to my back and placed it on my back. I pulled the door opened slightly and moved in when I saw no one was around. Quickly I navigated through the basement and came across a room that was bolted shut. I walked up to the door and knocked softly on it.

I pressed my ear to the door to make sure there were no walkers and pulled back satisfied as I didn't hear the usual sounds of a walker infested room. I grabbed my silenced pistol and deftly pulled the bolt back to unlock the door. With practiced ease I entered the room to see Glenn and a girl I assumed to be Maggie sitting on the floor. Glenn was beaten pretty badly and was shirtless but he seemed fit enough to walk and Maggie looked shaken but unharmed.

"Isaac?" Glenn asked in disbelief.

"Glenn. Remember when you saved my ass in Atlanta? Well I'm saving your ass in Woodbury. Come on." I turned back down the hallway and looked for anyone coming our way.

"Glenn, who is this?" Maggie asked.

"No time to explain. We got to go. Now." I whispered urgently and Glenn nodded as he stood up with a pained grunt and walked oved to the dead walker on the floor.

Glenn reached down and with a grunt of effort pulled the walker's arm off before stepping on it's arm. Within seconds he peeled the flesh off the bone fragments and handed one to Maggie and kept one for himself. They both looked at me and Glenn nodded.

"Handy trick. I'll use it sometime. Hopefully we won't have to. I'd like to avoid a war if I can help it." I said half-jokingly as I moved down the hallway.

Glenn and Maggie weren't as quiet as me but they did their best in their current condition as I led them out of the basement. I raised a hand and pushed them back into the shadows. Within seconds two distinct footsteps came from the corner we were about to turn and walked past us.

"They are coming for you guys. We need to move it and get out of this place now." I said seriously and they both nodded.

With that we made our way to the entrance of the basement and I saw the door knob begin to turn. There was no time to do anything else as the door opened and a guard saw me. Before he could shout an alarm I rushed him and grabbed his legs. With a grunt of effort I lifted him off his feet and onto his back with a heavy thump. I quickly threw a punch in his face for good measure. I grabbed his rifle and handed it to Maggie as I lifted the ammo I could find.

"Where the hell are they?!" I heard Merle yell out it surprise and anger.

"Fuck it. We got to run." I quickly led them onto the street and pulled a few of my special smoke bombs out.

I pulled the cord on each one of them and threw them one after the other in varying distances. Immediately Woodbury was filled with white smoke and I quickly grabbed Maggie and Glenn's arms as we ran through the panicked fill street. Guards and normal civilians were running about with no organization. In the chaos we looked like everyone else. We quickly came to a bus which was a major part of the wall before we came under fire.

"Get out of here!" I yelled as I pulled a few more smoke bombs out of my pocket and threw them immediately after I pulled the cords.

I pulled out my pistol and ducked low as I fired to at least force our pursuers back into cover. Without warning I felt something hit my straight in my chest with the force of what seemed like a sledgehammer. I felt myself be thrown against the bus as two more hit me.

"Isaac! Come on!" I heard Glenn yell from over the barricade.

With no further prompting I pulled myself onto the hood of the bus and then onto the roof. I felt another bullet hit me in the back and I fell over the edge and slammed heavily onto the ground. My vision blurred but I felt someone grab me and begin pulling me.

"Sons….of…bitches…." I felt myself slur out as I shot back at the barricade.

I felt myself being thrown in the backseat and a few seconds later felt the familiar sensation as the car began moving.

"How's he doing back there? Is he bleeding? Did he get shot?" Daryl asked but his voice seemed far away.

"There's…wound….Isaac…stay awake." I heard Maggie say as my vision once more faded black.

"Do you see…."I heard Glenn say before cutting out.

"Isaac!" I felt a hand slap my face a couple times as the world came into focus and I saw Maggie leaning over me.

"You have to stay awake. You have a concussion. Stay…" I heard her say but I felt tired and closed my eyes.

*****The Next Day*****

Breakfast consisted of Oatmeal from Isaac's cache of supplies. It was the most filling thing Rick had eaten in weeks. More and more he felt indebted to Isaac especially as Glenn and Maggie took a seat with their bowls. With their arrival morale had instantly soared but it was somewhat dampened by Isaac's condition. He had been shot three times but luckily the bullets had hit his bullet proof vest. The major injury he suffered from was a head wound when he took a dive off a bus. He was unconscious but alive. The second dark spot had been Michonne's reaction to Andrea not being among the rescued. Glenn and Maggie had no idea why Andrea wasn't with them leaving only Isaac as the sole source of information. She had taken to sitting in his cell and waiting for him to wake up. As Rick took another spoonful of the apple cinnamon flavored oatmeal he felt that life couldn't have been better. Life decided to prove him wrong.

Suddenly a random group of people ran inside their living area and Rick saw Carl close the gate and lock it as a black man, the biggest in their group laid down a bleeding woman. Rick counted five before he had his gun out and Maggie, Glenn, Daryl, and Carol followed his lead and had their own weapons pointed at them.

"Carl." Rick called out and immediately the other group who had just arrived noticed they were being held at gunpoint and raised their hands.

"Listen. We don't want any trouble." The black man said.

"Carl. Get over here now." Rick ordered and Carl obediently came to his father's side

"They were in trouble dad. I couldn't leave them." Carl explained.

"You could have." Rick said not caring that the other group could hear them.

"Are you this boy's father?" The black man asked.

"Doesn't matter. Who are you?" Rick asked.

"I'm Tyreese. This is Sasha, Ben, Allen, and…and…Donna" Tyreese looked down at the dead body.

"Why did you come here?" Daryl asked.

"We saw this place from far off. We thought we could use it for shelter when we saw that part of the building had collapsed. We ran into walkers. Dozens of them. The boy saved us and now we're here." Tyreese explained.

"How'd you get in?" Rick asked.

"Fire damage to the administrative building." Tyreese answered honestly.

"That sides completely overrun with walkers." Rick muttered.

"They got lost in the gyms." Carl inputted.

"Listen, we want to stay. It's clear to us that you have food, water and shelter. We'll work hard, help keep this place safe. If you have a problem with another group we'll help with that too. We won't take any of your food. We'll take care of ourselves." Tyreese promised.

"Rick…they might be able to help with our problems." Herschel offered.

"We all talked about it. Herschel's right." Carol seconded him.

After a few seconds though Rick made his mind up.

"No." Rick found himself saying.

"Come on…you can't push out there again. It's like the ten little Indians. It's just us now." Sasha said desperately.

"No." Rick said with a shake of his head.

"Let's talk about this." Herschel stated.

"We've been through this before. With Tomas and Andrew. Look what happened." Rick said accusingly.

"Oscar and Axel weren't like that." Carol interjected and despite himself Rick found he had nothing to say to that.

"I can't be responsible." Rick said but he himself could feel he was grasping at straws.

"Come on Rick. What's the harm?" Isaac's voice asked and Carol gasped in surprise before she rushed over to him and helped Michonne prop him up.

"Herschel." Rick gestured and Herschel calmly gestured for Carol and Michonne to guide Isaac down onto one of the chairs.

Quickly Herschel pulled out a small flash light and waved it over Isaac's eyes. After a few more tests Herschel nodded.

"He's fine. Still a little dizzy but that'll go away soon." Herschel promised before sitting down on a nearby stool.

"See. Fit as a whistle." Isaac joked as he scratched against the gauze on his head.

"Isaac. Look at them." Rick ordered and stepped back as Isaac stood up and made his way over to them with Carol's help.

Isaac leaned forward and looked Tyreese up and down. Then he looked at Sasha who looked at him strangely as he inspected her. Then he did the same for both Allen and Ben. With a tired sigh he limped toward a stool which Carol helped to lower him on. Isaac grabbed a nearby cup and drank the water inside before lowering it onto the table.

"Are we seriously going to let some half dead guy decide our fate?" Allen whispered to Tyreese.

"This half dead guy has good hearing too ass." Isaac called out and Allen demurely shrank back.

"What's your take on them?" Rick asked.

"They're fighters. I believe them. If they're good to their word I say we keep them. If not we kill them or let them go." Isaac said as if he was commenting on the price of grain.

Rick looked from Isaac to them. After a few minutes he shook his head before sighing. You'll be bunking up in the other cell blocks with Oscar and Axle. They'll tell me if you're working out right. If you are we'll see where we go from there. If you have a problem either tell Carol or Herschel or come to me." Rick relented and Tyreese and his group let out relieved smiles.

"Thank you Rick." Tyreese offered his hand and Rick hesitantly shook it.

"Let's set some ground rules. Everyone does their fair share of work. If you have to come through our cell block announce yourself. If you become aggressive toward me or my group I'll kick you all out." Rick promised and Tyreese nodded.

"This is the safest we've been in weeks. We'll do whatever it takes to stay." Tyreese promised.

"Hey assholes. You missed one." Isaac said as he grabbed a knife from the sheath on his calf and tossed it at the walker behind them.

The knife struck true and hit the reanimated corpse of Donna in the eye and she fell heavily onto the ground.

"You're welcome. I'm going to bed." Isaac stood up and Carol was once more at his side and Michonne followed them as they walked together back to the cell block.

"Don't fuck with him." Daryl said as he and the others lowered their guns and went back to their tables to eat.

"What he said. Now get some food. We got a long day of work ahead of us." Rick said and went back to his table.

Tyreese and his group carefully took care of Donna's body and wrapped it in a spare blanket they had. Silently each one went to Axel who handed them bowls of oatmeal. The four quickly found their own table and began eating. None of them talked as they savored their tastiest meal in weeks.

*****In the Cell Block*****

"It was good that you stood up for them." Carol whispered to her son.

"I didn't do it for them. Tyreese and Sasha look like they can do some damage. I rather them be on this side of the line than on the other." Isaac answered honestly.

"That's not the only reason right?" Carol asked as they turned into a cell.

"Mom…there's a war coming." Isaac stated as Carol lowered him onto the bed.

"I didn't kill anyone at Woodbury but I guarantee that The Governor will use my raid last night as an excuse to attack us. They know where we are. I heard them talk about us." Isaac explained.

"You have to tell Rick." Carol said urgently.

"I'm…too tired now. I told you. Tell him what I said later. He'll understand why I stood up to him then." Isaac said tiredly.

Without a word Carol stood up and looked down at Michonne who was staring intently at Isaac. Silently she stepped back and around Michonne before walking toward the living area as the words her son had said ran through her mind.

"I know you want to hear about Andrea." Isaac stated and Michonne only nodded.

"She's alive. Unharmed." Isaac explained.

"Why didn't you bring her back?" Michonne hissed out.

"Yeah…I did didn't I?" Isaac asked and Michonne closed in on him and grabbed the front of his shirt.

"You said you'd bring her back!" Michonne yelled.

"And you didn't tell me she was fucking The Governor!" Isaac answered defiantly.

They both stared at each other before Michonne finally backed off and retreated to the opposite wall as Isaac swung his legs off the bed and sat up. Both of them stared at each other but it was Michonne who broke eye contact.

"I didn't know it had gotten to that point." Michonne admitted.

"But you knew things were happening?" Isaac asked.

"I suspected." Michonne said as she crossed her arms.

"She's in deep. I couldn't risk Maggie and Glenn's life for a woman that can't even see the danger she's in. Andrea's your friend. I get that. You feel responsible for her and I get that too. But you've been out there and you've seen it! You know…at this point it's us versus them. We are us and they are them." Isaac laid out and Michonne frowned.

"This group is better than that." Michonne whispered.

"No. No we are not." Isaac said firmly.

With that said Michonne tried to think of something else to say but Isaac had already swung his legs back onto the bed and fallen asleep. With nothing left to do Michonne exited the cell quietly and went back to the living area to get something to eat.

Breakfast came and went and Rick began assigning the duties for today. Daryl, Glenn, Maggie were on perimeter watch with Tyreese and Sasha. Allen, Ben, and Michonne had volunteered to bury Donna's body and join up with them afterward. Oscar and Axle had volunteered to begin tilling the open area of the field. Beth and Carl were to take care of the baby while Rick, Carol, and Herschel were going to discuss more on the current situation. After each of them were given a task the group and the newcomers went off to do their tasks leaving only Herschel, Carol, and Rick at a single table.

"I'm glad you changed your mind Rick." Herschel started off.

"Well…I figured I owed Isaac something. The man is like a miracle worker. We have supplies, food, and weapons thanks to him and after what he did for Glenn and Maggie…I don't know if we could have done any better." Rick openly admitted and Carol nodded.

"Isaac said there's a war coming. It's why he challenged you on the decision." Carol explained.

"Impossible. From Woodbury?" Herschel asked.

"Yes. Isaac said that The Governor will just use the raid as an excuse to wipe us out." Carol said leaning forward slightly.

"The man's built a community. He won't risk it for us." Herschel denied.

"Wouldn't you?" Rick interjected.

"If a small force of well-trained and dangerous people entered your backyard wouldn't you try your best to eliminate the threat? Despite Isaac's best efforts we've shown our hand. They now know that we can get into their place and get at them. They won't trust us and all that'll breed is fear. The Governor is going to use it." Rick stated firmly.

"We can still try and negotiate with them. They know we are dangerous but they don't know who we are. Maybe we can set up a trading system or something. Something to stop this." Herschel defended.

"And who would you send? Maggie? Glenn? Daryl? You heard what they did to Maggie and you've seen what they did to Glenn. Is that the kind of people we want to make ties with?" Carol asked.

"Yes they've done that and I am angry but we cannot go to war with them. We are too few even with the four new people, Isaac, and Michonne. We can't lose more than we've already have." Herschel rebutted.

"Alright. Here's what we're going to do. I'll have Daryl and Isaac approach them from a distance. They'll leave a walkie talkie on the gate and their group will open a dialogue. Maybe if we're lucky we can avoid this whole mess. At the same time we'll have to start building up our defenses. A prison was intended to keep people in. Not out." Rick said and Carol and Herschel agreed.

"What are we going to do?" Carol asked.

"I want to start grabbing sheets from nearby cell blocks and hang them along the secondary fence. Hopefully it'll help to keep the walker numbers to a minimum. Too many and that fence will go down. Next we'll grab whatever's solid and line it along the secondary fence. This is phase one and it's going to take a while." Rick explained.

"What's phase two?" Herschel asked.

"I want to start to dig a moat." Rick suggested.

"A moat? Really?" Carol asked in disbelief.

"Maybe not an actual moat but something like it. Deep and wide. So that if the gate does come down we can limit the walkers or whoever is attacking us to the areas we want them to be." Rick explained.

"That's a hefty project. We're going to need a lot of bodies Rick." Herschel warned.

"Well we got them now don't we?" Rick asked.

"What about the dirt? Where are we going to put it?" Carol asked.

"We'll put it between the outer fence and secondary fence. It'll reinforce both fences and give us a five foot wall of solid dirt between us and them. When we can I'm hoping to board up both sides and make a permanent wall between us and the outside world." Rick said causing Herschel to whistle.

"That would be something. It's amazing you've even thought of it." Herschel said in wonder.

"I probably wouldn't have. It was Isaac who said something similar back when we first met. He was talking about what he would have done if he had known the Earth was going to hell." Rick chuckled at the memory.

"It's possible. We have the people. If Daryl and Isaac set up a trading system with Woodbury…maybe we can even set up a home. For the rest of our lives." Carol said in wonder.

"We still have to do it. We won't know until then." Herschel said and although it brought the mood down somewhat everyone at the table felt something they hadn't felt in a long time.

"Hope." Rick mused aloud and Carol and Herschel eyes widened in surprise.

"It feels like hope." Rick said as he covered his eyes with his hand.

*****Woodbury*****

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED LAST NIGHT?!" The Governor shouted out causing everyone in the room but Merle to flinch.

"So-so-someone managed to sneak inside." One of the men said.

"I know that you idiot but who was it? Who did this to us?" The Governor questioned and nobody in the room had any answers.

"Maggie and Glenn were taken." Merle spoke up.

"Was it your brother who did this?" The Governor asked.

"No. My brother's quiet but he ain't this quiet. He ain't this good. I talked to the guard that was found unconscious and he said that the man had only asked about Maggie and Glenn before knocking him out." Merle reported.

"And?" The Governor asked expectantly.

"And, the man could have killed him but chose not to. The man could have caused a distraction by setting fire to something but he didn't. He snuck around all of us and we didn't even realize how close he was. This man is skilled. Maybe military. But he only came for two people and asked for Glenn by name. There's only one place he could have come from where he had heard that information." Merle deduced.

"The Prison." The Governor whispered before slamming his hand onto the table.

* * *

Well that's the new chapter. I hope you've all enjoyed it.


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